The Burn of Unbidden Memories
by Krizteena
Summary: Cora Marx was nine years old when a pureblood vampire attacked her family, herself being the sole survivor, with scars to hold. But years later, another attack results in her transformation into a vampire. What happens when her attacker finds she's alive?
1. Prologue

"Because I'm the good guy, I'll give you one minute to run. It's more of a challenge for me this way."

Hands on his hips, the vampire's red eyes gleamed like a cat's as it cornered its prey. Planting her feet firmly on the ground, the young huntress just narrowed her eyes.

"Isn't it usually the other way around? You do understand that I'm the hunter, right?"

"We're both hunters here." He whispered. "But you don't look like one. Every vampire hunter I've ever encountered tied hair out of their face. And despite your _grey_ hair, aren't you a little young? And I can't take you seriously when your arms are boney little twigs."

He glanced at the branch that hung above, but she didn't notice. All of the things he'd said were true. Even the grey hair, though she was only fifteen. There were reasons she was trying not to let her mind delve back into.

She just stared at him and drew her vampire gun from its holster. "This minute's taking too long. Goodnight, _vamp__í__re._"

Her too-slow finger didn't get the chance to pull the trigger before a figure fell from above and swept her feet away from behind. She let the gun slip from her fingers and her knees buckle beneath her, but her attacker had different plans. He quickly lifted her up by her shoulders, grasping her arms in a painful position that prevented her escape.

"So now what?" the first vampire spoke. "Unarmed and not dangerous. She looks pretty tasty, huh, Zyron?"

The vampire behind her chuckled pulled her closer. "Notice how she's so helplessly vulnerable, yet she doesn't scream! Must be a pride thing."

"You _monsters_." The huntress uttered. "If you so much as breathe on my neck, you'll be on our list too."

She truly was helpless at this point since the position of her arms immobilized her. The first vampire walked over and picked up the gun.

"We aren't going to hurt you." she blinked. The girl had thought for sure she was beat. He approached her and looked down slightly because of his height. "You're pretty young to be hunting alone. You're skill level is low and you have a lot to learn about us."

He took a step back and nodded to the second vampire, Zyron. When he released her, the girl immediately took a few steps away from them and rubbed her aching arms. No permanent damage to anything but her pride, even if she'd be sore for a few hours.

Her gun was offered to her. She glanced suspiciously at the vampire. He looked her age, though the extra height he'd had earlier wasn't only because she'd been leaning over. Light brown hair grew from his head, and his eyes had returned to a natural shade of green. She knew him. But he wouldn't recognize her.

"We haven't done you any harm, so we're trusting you won't shoot us?"

She snatched her gun. "You shouldn't throw your trust around to strangers. Especially strangers who want you dead."

The green eyed one smirked again but answered. "No harm done. And," he started backing up to leave. "you don't seem that strange."

With that, both vampires disappeared.


	2. Return of the Missing

**Yay! A new story! I was writing this while I should have been working on Once Upon a Scholarship… but anyway… Totally different characters, but they do resemble Yuuki and Zero in their own way. I think you guys will be able to understand it pretty well… This is basically what I came up with while wondering, what if it had been the other way around? What if Yuuki had been the vampire who had once been a human, born the child of vampire hunters? This ended up so much better and longer than I originally planned… so welcome to chapter one! :D enjoy! **

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"Cora?" The man stood from his living room chair immediately upon the opening of the front door. The fifteen-year-old girl closed the door behind her but walked past her uncle and toward the staircase ahead. "Cora-" he stuttered again. He couldn't think of a thing to say. It had been months since he had come home from work to find his niece gone. Nothing missing from her room. No note.

Cora stopped at the staircase, her back to her uncle, and ran her fingers through her choppy short hair, which gleamed pale silver and covered her scarred eye. "I'm sorry," she began, closing her eyes and unsuccessfully trying to gather her thoughts. "I'd tell you where I've been, but I couldn't tell myself if I tried." Steps creaked slightly under her feet as she headed up the stairs. Her uncle wasn't letting her just walk in like this, though. He followed her up the stairs.

"Listen, Cora, I get how it's hard for you, especially right now-"

"Stop." She muttered. She now stood at her closed bedroom door with her back still to her uncle, though not for long. A hand landed gently on Cora's shoulder and gently turned her around. She squinted her pastel blue eyes shut and took a deep breath.

"Let me see." He took his hand off her shoulder. "Open your eyes." And so she did. "As I thought…" he murmured to himself as a red eye gleamed back at him, the other hidden behind the curtain of bangs. Her jaw ached. Her throat burned. But she took deep breaths. She blinked a few times. The redness drained from her eyes as they returned to their original shade of clear blue, but her jaw continued to ache, and her throat felt dry. Her uncle wouldn't know the pain she felt.

"Glad your feeling better. I guess your time away was beneficial to you." He smiled and backed down the hallway towards the stairs. "Welcome home."

Cora shut her bedroom door behind her and slouched against it. Her uncle knew she was a vampire. He knew her story. He knew how her parents died. He was her only family left. The only place she could go.

She dug her fingers into her neck momentarily, where a tattoo of a small black cross was etched. Cora was not full vampire, but neither was she fully human. Part of her still needed food, but the other half of her thirsted for human blood. A thirst that was never quite satisfied.

Her eyes opened, though only one of them saw. Her hair still covered her other eye, but beneath the veil stretched the three deep, gruesome, white scars she hid from the world. Blinding scars. Scars from the vampire that killed her parents. A reminder of the night she would never forget.

The girl fished around in her coat pocket as she stumbled toward a short dresser which a mirror sat atop. A canister of pills emerged, and she popped two capsules in her mouth, gritting her teeth as she swallowed. Blood substitute pills. They were supposed to quench her burning thirst for blood, but so far she saw no results. The mirror reflected her fangs. She hated that sight.

She knew the two vampires from earlier. Sean Bouché and his friend, Zyron Bryant. Before she was attacked by a certain Class A vampire- and therefore transformed into a vampire herself- the two boys went to the same middle school as her. No, it wasn't a special school that allowed vampires. It was a regular school, with unknowing teachers. Unknowing students. In an unknowing world. Neither boy had been her friend. No vampire was a friend to her.

She hadn't seen either since her transformation, but it was Sean who she saw differently now. Differently in a bad way. She hated him.

Tonight, she hadn't been on a termination hunt the Vampire Hunter Association had sent her on. Sean hadn't done anything wrong. He hadn't bitten a human nor had he threatened to reveal the truth about the existence of vampires to the world.

Cora took off her shoes and coat and lay on her bed. Maybe she would sleep tonight.

Or not.

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**I love reviews :)**


	3. The Only Good Leech

**Welcome to chapter 2! Thanks to my faithful subscriber DofD! So far, you're the only reason I'm bothering posting this. Since I haven't had any other reviews so far… **

**Anyone else excited about Vampire knight being dubbed into English? What about the fact that Zero's voice actor is Vic Magnoga? I'll keep you guys updated :) btw, you can now buy Season One of Vampire Knight in English on iTunes if you want to see how naive Yuuki's voice actor sounds :/**

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Turns out Sean and Zyron had decided to go to Memorial Academy, where Cora's uncle, Gregory White, was the headmaster; therefore, where Cora would attend high school, though she was months behind.

Her first day, Cora made her hatred clear to Sean and Zyron. All day, the two vampires studied her, and she them. Sean mockingly smiled and waved the first time he saw her, while Zyron laughed at their joke.

When Lunch came, Cora escaped the crowded cafeteria and headed for the courtyard, where a few empty picnic tables sat, - no one wanted to be outside in this cold - but she rounded the next corner and slouched against the brick wall. Too many people. Too many beating hearts and warm pulses. Cora closed her eyes and focused on taking deep breaths.

During her ten months' absence, Cora had practiced being around people, around the thumping hearts, and had learned to muffle the sound of the beats. But in this school, nearly two hundred students rotated classes through the confined hallways at the same time. It was still tough.

"What's wrong? You aren't afraid of us, are you?"

Cora jumped and looked up when Sean and Zyron rounded the corner. The weight of her vampire gun inside her heavy uniform coat reassured her, and though she considered flashing a glance of it to them, she kept the knowledge to herself.

"Are you okay?" Sean wiped the intimidating look off his face and replaced it with a more relaxed expression, but she ignored the question "You can trust us, no matter how much you don't want to." Cora narrowed her eyes. "We aren't the bad guys."

"I know what you are." Even at her full height, Cora had to look up at Sean. "The only good leech," She took a step toward them, but they didn't step back. "is a _dead_ leech."

"Cora!" Cora swiveled her head toward her uncle's call from across the schoolyard, but Zyron gaped at her while Sean's eyes fell. "Cora, you better not be picking fights!" The headmaster started walking their way.

"Cora…" Sean muttered as he continued to look at her. She glared back at him once more before walking toward her uncle. Once her back turned, Zyron looked at Sean with shock glinting in his eyes, but Sean's eyes followed her.

"What happened to her?" Zyron whispered in a low voice, not knowing that Cora's ears could pick up what they were saying. "She's…" he hesitating, not knowing what to say.

"It's her, though." Sean stated needlessly. He could tell, faintly, by the smell of her, now that he looked for it. Luckily for Cora, neither Sean nor Zyron were blessed with the ability to tell vampires apart from humans by scent.

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"Wait- Cora-" Cora stopped in her tracks when Sean called after her. She'd been heading home – to her uncle's house, conveniently just down the street – when Sean started chasing after her. She took a deep breath and turned around, but looked away when his deep green eyes met hers.

"Hi." She said tersely. Sean easily translated this into "go away."

"Hey…" he muttered. "What happened to you?" Though she saw the question coming, she stiffened when the words left his mouth.

She knew she wouldn't tell him the truth, but she wasn't sure what she _would_ tell him.

"Vampires happened to me." She hissed with narrow eyes, then looked up then stepped forward until she was inches away from him. "My whole life, vampires have taken away what's most important to me. And a year ago, another rotten bloodsucker once again crashed into my life." She narrowed her eyes and pressed her index finger into his chest. "So you and your buddy better keep away, unless you want some silver bullets implanted in your _skull_."

Sean frowned, unsatisfied with her answer, but all the same he stepped back.

"Alright." He said. "See you around, then."

Cora watched him walk away, itching to pull her gun out and discharge a few bullets into his brains. But they were still in view of the school and the students still leaving. Sean looked back over his shoulder once, offering a feeble smile which wasn't returned.

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**I loves reviews :) **


	4. Chap 4

**Surprize! Chapter Three :) I should be spending this little bit of time studying for exams… eh. DofD deserves an update by now. Thanks for being my only reviewer :) (and reader, as far as I would know) enjoy!**

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Later that night, Cora crunched down two more blood capsules, donned herself with a warmer jacket, and headed out for her assigned hunt. Despite her young age, she was a vampire hunter, and she would be assigned to eliminate vampires that had simply driven themselves out of control drinking the blood of, and often killing, humans.

She sniffed out her target the second the front door clicked shut behind her, surprised to find how near he was. A block from the school was a piece of undeveloped land that blended into a dense forest, and as Cora drew near, she sensed another vampire in the area. A familiar vampire. The trees parted to make a small clearing, and Cora drew her gun as she burst through the trees.

Sean looked back at her, surprised. "Cora?" Cora's prey - a different vampire - took his chance during this moment of confusion and jumped toward her. Sean immediately snapped out of it and with impossible speed, jumped between Cora and the vampire, grabbed its neck, and tightened his grip until a snap echoed through their ears.

Sean laid the body down respectfully, and turned toward Cora. "Hey." He greeted, adding a hesitant smile.

"Why'd you do that?"

"Greet you?" he joked. "Here on planet earth, civilized people commonly-"

"Shut up." She narrowed her eyes. "Why'd you kill it?"

"Well, technically, we aren't 'its'. 'It' was a she, and not all _leeches_ are on the same side." He looked down as the dead vampire shriveled and dissolved to a pile of ashes. "Some choose to survive on the pills," he pulled out his own container of blood substitute capsules. "But others aren't satisfied. They only thirst for human blood. They let the beast take over and loose all human morals. Vampires… We're just monsters. Parasites who take the shape of humans." Core flinched at his words. "She won't be missed."

Cora suddenly lost focus as the rhythmic thumping of Sean's heart slipped into her ears. She slowly closed her eyes and exorcised the sound from her mind. She wouldn't let him find out what she was.

"I… have to go." Cora opened her eyes, but he was already gone.

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"I told you to stay away from me." Cora hissed as Sean took a seat next to Cora in the Biology lab.

"I'm known for disobeying orders." He uttered back. Their teacher had begun class, so they he lowered his voice to a mere whisper. "And, I'm late. No open seats."

Their teacher, Mrs. McArdle, began passing out microscope slides.

"What're we doing?" Cora paled as she caught a whiff of blood.

"Examining the difference between the blood types." Sean answered. Cora looked at the box of slides Mrs. McArdle set at their lab table. Three slides with dried blood on each of them.

Sean raised a brow at Cora, then reached across and grabbed the box. "Is this a test?" he asked her, then busied himself with setting up their microscope. "The smell doesn't affect me." He muttered. The aching returned to Cora's jaw, but then she remembered to take deep breaths. The twinge slowly disappeared, and she could think clearly again.

Cora shook her head as she watched him peer through the eyepiece with a confused expression displayed on his face. "Try this…" she flipped the light switch to the "on" position and almost laughed when he raised his eyebrows in surprise. Almost.

"I guess it does work better with the light on." Sean muttered, a sloppy grin on his face. Cora watched as he filled out the worksheet, his hand moving a million miles an hour, but perfect print produced on the paper. He looked up without breaking his pace and smirked at her.

"Here." He pushed the completed paper into her view. Cora began copying his answers – it was a group lab, after all – but was distracted when she happened to glance out the window. She nearly jumped out of her seat, causing Sean to give her a questioning look and look out the window as well.

But he was already gone. Cora strained her senses, but the man she'd seen had been outside. She wouldn't be able to hear or smell him from inside the classroom, even if a sixth sense told her it hadn't been a hallucination.

"What?" Sean whispered, his eyes moving back to her. She shut her eyes and shook her head, but that didn't convince him. When she opened them again, she saw Sean was looking at her intently.

"Quit that. It's creepy." Cora muttered, busying herself once more with copying down answers. He looked out the window for a second time.

After class, Cora was the first one out the door, but Sean was right behind her. Too bad for her it was lunch time, and he had time to talk.

"What was that?" Sean jabbed a thumb toward the classroom, inferring her freak out earlier. Cora scratched at her neck absently as they headed toward the cafeteria. Her eye searched the windows, but saw nothing worth getting excited about. "Never mind…" He'd spotted Zyron and watched as he walked toward him.

Zyron approached with his hand in his pocket, but as he strolled closer, he shared a glance with Sean. Cora was too distracted with the window to worry about what they were talking about.

"Check it out." Zyron handed Sean a small metal tin, similar to a box of mints, other than the intricate design on the lid. Sean gave him a curious glance. "Open it."

Inside were-

"Blood substitute capsules." Sean whispered. Cora's ears pricked up, and she glanced at the metal tin in Sean's hand. A familiar family crest was carefully carved into the surface. The crest of her father's name. It was hers.

"Found them behind the gym." Zyron glanced around to be sure no one was listening. By now they were in the cafeteria, sitting next to the windows. Cora, instead of her habit of hiding outside during lunch, had escaped to a more isolated corner of the cafeteria.

"I thought we were the only ones on campus?" Sean asked. Cora kept her eyes out the window but her ears honed in on their conversation.

"I guess not." Zyron glanced around again. "Should we let White know? _Mr_. White, I mean." Sean shrugged in response.

"Probably. Our little Miss might know, though. I'd start by asking her."

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**Ok, so there at the end, he's supposed to mean miss, as in Miss White, as in Cora. Not that I think you didn't figure that out.**

**And take it easy on me, I'm only in Biology one so if there's some conflict about whether or not you can see the difference in blood types once the blood has dried, chill, it's just a story. (I've had some people get pretty upset about me messing up something that doesn't really matter :/ )**

**Uhm… so you're probably confused. I had to use a lot of pronouns because we don't know who this person is yet… you'll see with the next chapter. Haven't edited it to perfection yet, though, so you guys will have to wait another week or so. :/ **

**This is getting long, sorry. I would like to get a vampire knight Christmas special written and up in time for Christmas… not sure if it will happen or not, though. No promises, but I'll try! **

**Good luck on Midterms if you haven't taken them yet! :P Thanks for reviewing 3**


	5. Mr Sanders

**So, thanks to those who reviewed :) **

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"I'll give it to him." Cora accepted the small tin box.

"Wait," Sean – of course – wasn't letting her go so easily. "Aren't you supposed to be trained to tell the difference between humans and vampires?" Cora rolled her eyes.

"You're a vampire, aren't _you_ supposed to be able to smell the difference?" She started walking, but stopped when both boys followed after her. "We don't even know the vampire goes to this school. It could belong to some other, random vampire who passed by."

The boys shrugged, considering her idea.

"Wouldn't it be more exciting if it belonged to a student, though?" Zyron stated. Sean punched him on the arm, much harder than a human skeleton could probably handle, but not hard enough to fracture his enhanced bones. "Wouldn't it be?" He took a step away from Sean to avoid another punch, then looked up at the sun and squinted. "Ugh, it's bright today." He muttered. Sean nodded in agreement, but nodded toward the storm clouds in the distance.

"Not for long."

"I'm heading home. Until tomorrow." He disappeared dramatically.

Cora squinted up at the sun that shone down on them, a thousand times too bright. It barely warmed her cold skin.

"Why can't he say goodbye like a normal person?" She turned and started to walk again.

"That'd be too boring." Sean said, mocking the obviousness of it. He stopped again when Cora halted in the shade.

"Don't you have anywhere better to be?" She looked at her watch, trying to make her impatience obvious, but before he could answer, Cora froze. Three of five senses told her that the man from earlier was near. Sean looked around in all directions, but didn't see him either.

"Who is that?" Sean muttered in the lowest voice he assumed Cora could hear. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins as the familiar scent mixed with the air coursing through her lungs.

"No one…" her voice was distracted as she tried to distinguish the man's location among the trees and houses around them. "I'm going home." She walked swiftly as she could while looking human.

"Alone?" Sean knew as well that Headmaster White hadn't left the school yet.

"I'm armed." She said without thinking.

_It's a vampire…_ Sean pieced together. _She's afraid of this vampire ._He didn't follow her, but he didn't go home either.

It was in her house.

Cora froze three houses from her uncle's house, sure that this particular vampire knew where she stood, and started walking as calmly as possible toward the school again. Her uncle had to know.

Cora kept walking, feigning deafness, even though the footsteps behind her were attempting stealth, until she wheeled around, gun drawn, and took aim.

Sean froze and held his hands in the air. "I'm innocent!" he teased.

"It's just you." Cora breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't let her guard down. She left the gun loaded, but tucked it back into her coat.

"Do you keep that with you at school?" Sean asked and he appeared at her side and walked with her. She didn't answer, but he hadn't expected her to.

"I can protect you." His voice dropped to a quiet mutter again. Cora ignored him. "I just need to know who's out there." She shook her head. "Fine." He sighed. "Bye-"

"No!" Cora gripped his arm before he could vanish. He looked at her, surprise in his eyes. "I mean…" Cora looked down, let go of his arm and started walking toward the school once more.

Sean walked with her silently until they reached the school, where he stopped outside the door.

_What's she afraid of… _Sean looked back toward the trees before heading home.

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"Did I mention you have a new assignment?" Cora paled when her uncle handed her the envelope. While she told him what was roaming the neighborhood, and what had been in their house for that manner, he'd been rummaging through his mail, looking for the envelope.

She opened it, though she already knew the name of her target.

"Alexander Sanders." She whispered the name as if saying it any louder would summon the vampire into the room.

"Do you need me to come with you?" Cora considered her uncle's offer, but didn't peel her eyes from the paper. He'd been a hunter before Cora had started living with him, but he hadn't held his gun in years. Having him come would only put him in danger.

"No." She said firmly as she dropped the paper in the trash can. Headmaster White watched her head toward the door. "See you in the morning!" She smiled at her uncle but her voice quivered.

Once outside, Cora debated whether to head for her house—where she could grab some extra supplies—or the forest—where no one would hear the gunshots. She had a battle ahead of her and wasn't sure if she was ready to take on this target.

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**Boring chapter. That's why I'm posting two.**


	6. Circumspect

**This first scene was so much fun to write… Chapter 5 everyone :)**

**//**

Cora gasped in pain when the vampire's nails slashed across her back. Cool blood dripped from the wounds, but slowly. They were surface wounds. The wounds that inflicted the most pain.

But by the time she turned, all she saw were trees .He was gone again. Too fast for her. Purebloods usually were.

He was whispering, but Cora couldn't understand what he was saying or where the voice was coming from.

"Hey-" Cora swiveled to her right – her blind side – and discharged two bullets.

Sean stifled a yelp, but successfully dodged both. Cora looked at him, confused. Distracted.

"What're you-" she didn't finish her sentence before fingers brushed against her back, where blood still trickled from the slashes. Cora's hair stood straight up on the back of her neck, but once again, by the time she turned, her enemy was gone.

Sean turned so that he and Cora were back to back.

"Who-" Sean muttered before they heard the bushes whisper. He glanced around one more time before seizing Cora's wrist and pulling her along beside him as they ran.

Cora screamed as she fell to the ground. Sean shouted her name, but she didn't hear him. Alexander Sanders was crouched over, reaching a clawed hand toward her face. She wasted two more bullets on trees as Sean pulled her back to her feet and took off again.

"Where're we-"

"My house." Sean looked back, though he was sure the vampire was still on their trail.

Cora's eyes glazed over, though her feet kept running. Sean's house. Where Sean's family lived. Where Sean's father would likely be.

"Somewhere else." Cora stated, pulling her wrist from his grasp. "Anywhere else." Sean looked back and gave her another questioning look. They changed course.

**//**

"Up here." Sean headed up a staircase of the abandoned house and into its attic.

Cora leaned against the wall for support, but winced and shot straight again when her back grazed the wall. Her fingers reached back to the cuts, but the blood had already dried.

"Here, let me see." Cora stepped back into the wall as Sean approached.

"I'm fine-" but her wince as the wall touched the cuts didn't convince him. She reluctantly turned so he could see her back.

"I might be able to find some alcohol and bandages downstairs. Maybe some food and blankets too…"

"How long do you think we're going to be here?" Cora turned to face him again. He shrugged and answered as he opened the door.

"I just thought you might be cold." An unwelcome chill slid down her spine.

"Be quiet." She warned. He nodded and closed the door behind him.

He wasn't what she had expected him to be. When she returned from her time away, she wanted him dead. She wanted him to be gone, and to not exist anymore. But now, he was helping her. Saving her life.

"Here." She turned away from him and shrugged off her ripped coat as he approached with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some rags, but stopped. He wouldn't be able to properly get to her wounds with her button down uniform shirt on. "Um…" He daintily touched the ripped fabric of the shirt, but hesitated.

"Nevermind." She responded curtly. "I'll be fine." Cora reached for her coat, but couldn't bring herself to pick it up. It was ruined with blood. Blood that also stained the shirt she was wearing.

"If you're sure." Sean set the bottle aside and tossed her a blanket. She wrapped herself in it, silently thankful.

"You can sleep for a bit. It's been a long day." He said, taking a seat a few feet from her against the same wall. She shook her head.

"I wouldn't be able to sleep." She opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "I just… never thought I'd see _him_…" she shook her head and covered her face hands. The smell of blood was faint in the room, but still there. She took deep, slow breaths. "Where are we?" she muttered between her fingers.

"Actually…" he looked around the empty room. "I had no idea this was here. I was actually going to take you to Zyron's mother's house. His mom doesn't live with him and his dad. She's human."

Cora's eyes showed no sympathy. At least he had a mother. At least she was human.

"Cora?" she looked up. "Who is it exactly that we're hunting, or that's hunting us, rather? Who's after you?" she shook her head again, but nevertheless began the story.

"Alexander Sanders. When I was nine, he killed my family. He… he almost killed me too." She touched her blind eye that hid beneath her hair. Nobody knew about her scars except her uncle.

"Sean?" He was already looking at her. "He…" she couldn't tell even herself why she decided to pull her hair back from her face, like drawing the curtain at a theatre, revealing the scars to this boy she barely knew. "He did this to me."

Sean took in the three deep white scars that stretched across her eye. "Oh, my god…" Sean whispered, reaching out a hand to her face, to touch the scars. She withdrew though, letting the curtain fall back into place.

"That's terrible." He said.

"You try to touch me one more time and I'll shoot you." He looked away.

"You wouldn't waste your bullets on me."

"Try me."

Sean smirked.

"He was on a mission to kill the Marx family. I was the one that got away. After his first attack, I disappeared. I hid from him. But now he knows where I am. He can finish his job-"

"No he can't." Sean cut her off. "I won't let that happen." He looked at her, but she just pulled her legs tighter against herself, then relaxed as sudden exhaustion draped over her.

"Thanks…" Cora muttered as the last words before she drifted into a restless sleep.

Sean watched her sleep, slouched against the wall. Her gun stuck partially out of her jeans, and her hair covered the rest of her face.

Sean stood so he wouldn't fall asleep as well. The broken window didn't help with the low temperatures, but at least he could look out the broken places since the glass was fogged with ice.

He watched for a while but he didn't really think Alexander would find them here. They'd have to find him first.

Cora flinched in her sleep. Sean caught a glimpse of the black tattoo on her neck that he'd never seen before. Kneeling in front of her, he saw it was in the shape of a cross.

The mark of a huntress, he assumed. Sean's fingers reached out fearlessly to trace the tattoo. Though her eyelids flinched, Cora didn't wake. He seated himself next to her so that their arms almost touched.

The moon couldn't penetrate the dark clouds, though Sean knew it was night now. He noted the white flakes drifting in the window. He reached for the second blanket. It felt much colder than freezing.

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**Eh. I think it gets better later. Thanks for reviewing :)**


	7. My Unbidden Memories: Lonesome

It was August, year 2000. I was nine. Dawn was breaking outside, but that didn't affect the darkness that lingered in my room, painted purple- my favorite color. The butterfly and flower pictures I drew in kindergarten still hung by thumbtacks on the wall, in the same place they've been for years. My little houseplant sat on the window-sill, the one I name Lucy when I planted it a year before, thriving with the help of my mother's green thumb.

I don't know when I stopped noticing these things. These little things that had never changed, but this morning I saw them in a new light. Maybe it was because of my nightmare:

We were at the dinner table, eating my favorites- green beans and spaghetti. My long brown hair was constantly being pushed out of my food, the curly tips hungry too, I guess. Mom and Dad were being their usual selves, joking and teasing each other even at the dinner table. I was glad they were that way, unlike some of the kids at school's parents who never acted like they were still in love.

Mom stood up to clean up the kitchen. We were through eating, and I had barely pushed back my chair to help when my worst fears materialized in front of my eyes. Before I could question whether or not it was a dream, I watched as the vampire slit Mom's throat with a sharp claw, before she could let out a scream, then began draining the blood from her neck.

Dad, with such livid anger I had never seen contorting his face, ripped a hidden drawer in the table open, revealing a silver gun. My mother dropped to the floor with a sickening thud as the woman vampire fled my father's aim. Dad's head relaxed slightly, for one second, thinking it was over. How wrong he was.

I froze with such fear as the cold breath brushed my ear. My dad saw him, though, and as he lunged for me, he shot twice, purposefully aiming too far to the left and missing. I was too close.

But the vampire fled my side, giving my dad a chance to pull me into his arms for the last time. It was my turn to scream when my dad's arms went limp and I turned to see his eyes rolling back into his head. The woman vampire was drinking thirstily at his neck, and the silver blade of a knife stuck out of his chest.

I never knew what it felt like to be alone until that day- that moment. I felt so lost. I knew I should wonder where the second vampire was, but my wide blue eyes, so full of terror, were locked on my dad's closed ones.

So when I heard the front door slam open, the gunshots that rang through the air, I couldn't move as the woman grabbed me and burst out the window with me in tow. But hunters were waiting for her outside, and she was pulled away from me the second her feet touched the ground. But nobody else grabbed me. They were busy with the vampire, so nobody touched me again, not until the male vampire had reached me.

I don't think the hunters even remembered me until the other vampire was in front of me, lunging for me. Somebody grabbed the back of my shirt as I stepped back, resulting in me falling back into whoever was there, but I had misjudged the reach of his grasp, and held for one moment too long a sense of security.

The last thing I saw out of my right eye was the vampire, with his claw reaching me. I felt three of his nails gorge into my face, leaving seeping wounds. Then I woke up, and, déjà vu much, it happened all over again, but in real life, where my parents died, and I was left with the scars, to assure I would never forget those vampires.

Favorite colors didn't matter anymore. And after that day, I never ate green beans or spaghetti ever again. My artistic ability went to waste and was forgotten, and Lucy the houseplant died.

It was the first sequence of endings I never knew. And also my new beginning as a lost child.

My beginning as a huntress.


	8. Useless Escape

**Last chapter was a little extra I decided to add. It was in Cora's POV, in case you didn't notice. My first midterms ever are over! And Christmas is coming :) Merry Christmas in case I don't update before then!**

**//**

Cora opened her eyes when the warmth and brightness of the morning sun struck her face. She blinked a few times and noticed how she was leaning heavily against Sean's shoulder, though not for long.

She immediately sat up and scooted over a few inches. She tried standing, but changed her mind the second the cold, blood scented air hit her. Her eyes shut tightly, and the weight of the small tin of the pills in her pocket pressed into her side, but she resisted the urge to take them.

"It's morning already? How long was I asleep?" Cora curled herself into a tight ball, trying to stay warm.

"A while I guess… I don't mind." He stood and walked back over to the window. "Hey, come here. Look at this."

Cora stood quickly, wrapping the blanket around her, and hurried over to the window, prepared to see something terrible."

If not for the broken glass, they wouldn't have been able to see anything. But through the missing spaces, they could see-

"Snow." Sean smiled. There was enough to cover the dirt, but not the tips of the overgrown grass. The earth glittered as if miniscule diamonds had been imbedded in the ground.

"Wow…" Cora whispered, letting out a small sigh. "It's beautiful…"

"Yeah." Vapor left his mouth as he spoke. "It was pretty cold last night." He glanced at Cora, but she was only interested in the snow.

Until she realized how warm he was. And that he was so close, as they tried to peek through the window, that she could hear the beating of his heart…

Distracted as she was, it was Sean who saw him first. Sean pulled her down out of the window's view so they wouldn't be seen.

"What-"

"Shh!" he hissed at her, covering her mouth with his hand. By now she could sense who was outside. Her ears picked up the quiet crunch of his shoes on the snow. She pulled his hand off her mouth, but didn't dare move, let alone speak. The slightest movement could cause the whole building to creak, so she was forced to sit still, practically in Sean's lap.

Cora turned her head when she felt Sean tap on her shoulder. He held a finger to his lips and moved his arm from her waist where it'd been wrapped. Cora immediately shook her head a mouthed "he's still out there" worriedly. Sean nodded and silently mouthed "I know, I know."

But before he could stand, a shadow fell into the room. Cora grabbed Sean's wrist and pulled him back, causing them both to tumble back toward the center of the room and into the view of Alexander.

"Boo?" he said in a mockingly evil voice. Sean lifted Cora into his arms and bounded to the door, which had conveniently been left open the night before, with his unearthly speed.

"I love a good chase."Alexander whispered to himself right before he leapt after them.

"How many shots do you have left?" Sean whispered as they exited the house. "It won't take him long to catch up."

Cora pulled out her gun, but she didn't have to check to know how many bullets she had used yesterday.

"One."

They could both hear the nearly silent crunch of snow behind them as Alexander drew closer.

"No pressure."

She sat up in Sean's arms, looked over his shoulder, and took aim…

**//**

Cora took her finger off the trigger when Sean unexpectedly stepped aside and made a U-turn around a tree.

"Why'd you do that?" Cora hissed, though she knew Alexander would still hear. She tried to release herself from Sean's hold, but he started running again with the speed only a vampire could maintain.

When the enemy vampire grabbed Sean's shoulder, Sean quickly released Cora to face him. Fangs bared, they slashed at each other's throats, but they were too evenly matched.

Cora tried to aim, but her target wouldn't stop moving, and Sean kept getting in the way.

As the two fought, Sean was visibly growing tired, but Alexander wasn't even breathing hard. He was getting bored with this target.

Cora was taken off guard when the vampire jumped for her and knocked the gun out of her hand. Before she could dodge, he grabbed her by the neck and threw her against the nearest tree. Her breath quickly became short and shallow.

"The one that got away." The vampire smirked. "Not this time."

Over Alexander's shoulder, Cora caught a blurry glance of Sean aiming the gun in their direction. It was a risky shot. If he missed and shot Cora…

She winced when she heard the shot, but fell to her hands and knees with fatigue next to the dead vampire. His blood smelled of sweet candy, but she painfully resisted.

Sean kneeled in front of her and put a hand on her shoulder. She blinked wearily. She was cold, tired, hungry. Thirsty. She could see her vapory breath in front of her.

"Come on… Hey!" She faintly heard him call her name worriedly when she passed out into his lap.

**//**

**Okay, so if any of you were like: why was Sean carrying her out of the house? As far as Sean knows, Cora's human, and she would have been too slow to escape, since the enemy here has superhuman speed. Sean could run faster with a hundred pounds in his arms than a human could with empty hands.**


	9. That First Storm

**Time lapse I'm too lazy to fill in. Pretend all that hunting Alexander stuff happened on the weekend, now its Monday. Sean brought Cora back to her uncle I guess, and hasn't seen her until school. It's Monday now :) huh. For the record, the little mark, tattoo cross thing I mentioned that Cora has on her neck isn't meant to be elaborate like Zero-kun's. I guess its just a simple, black cross. Not big, I guess the size of a persons palm. **

**//**

"Hey!" Cora stopped when she heard Sean's voice. It was her lunch hour, but she needed to get away from people. She was starting to get edgy. "Wait up!"

She shut her eyes tightly, willing him to leave her alone, now of all times, but sure enough he caught up to her. She started walking toward her uncle's house once more.

"Leave me alone, Sean." She looked straight ahead, taking note of the quiet echo of thunder from the distant clouds.

"Oh, added my name for emphasis. You must really not want me around." He narrowed his eyes and a smirk appeared on his face.

She nodded curtly.

"I, who helped you hunt and kill the murderer of your parents." She kept walking.

"I, whom you shared you secret past with." She flinched.

"What do you want, Sean." He stopped babbling and continued to smirk.

He didn't have an answer. She shook her head, not believing what an idiot he was. "Uh… where are we going?"

_You have got to be kidding me. _

"_You_ aren't going anywhere. I'm going to get some lunch. At my uncles house." Lunch. That worked.

"Yum. Mind if I join you?"

They were already at the house, walking up the steps. Cora took out her key and unlocked the door.

"Yes, I do."

The door shut, practically in Sean's face. On the other side, Cora leaned against it for support, the thirst in her chest constricting her breathing. Her fingers clawed at the mark on her neck.

After a few minutes she felt the door try to open behind her so she scooted over and sat down on the floor, knowing it was just Uncle White.

He didn't ask any questions, but only retrieved some blood tablets from a place in his pocket. He held two out to her, and she took them hesitantly. With a nod from White, she put them in her mouth and swallowed.

"Can you return to school?" he tried to place a hand on her back, but she shrugged him off.

"I'm fine." She'd never admit to how ill she felt. How weak.

"You should eat some real food too. Want me to cut some apples?" she shook her head. Her vampire side always rejected human food. He didn't know that.

**//**

(that night)

When Mr. White heard the doorbell ring, he was surprised anyone would try to visit in this weather. The storm had blown in, and buckets of rain poured from the clouds. Sheet lighting flashed constantly in the sky.

He opened the door, and saw… Sean? Rain dripped from the tips of his soaked hair, his hand enclosed the strap to a small duffel bag.

"Can we talk?"

**//**

It was about eleven when Cora finished her hunting assignment and headed for her uncle's house. She walked in through the back door dripping with rain water and tired from her hunt. She walked into the kitchen, heading for her room, but halted when she saw their guest and his bag on the floor.

"Cora, Sean needs a place to stay for a while, and I invited him to stay downstairs in the basement guest room. Now, I know you two don't really get along-"

Cora cut him off by continuing the walk to her room. "It's fine."

Sean offered Mr. White a grateful smile. "Thanks, this means a lot."

"Yeah… Let's just hope she sees that."

**//**

Later that night, Cora woke with an itching thirst in her throat. She made her way down to the kitchen to try having a glass of water with her blood tablets. When a chair screeched across the floor as it was bumped into, she spun around with the meat cleaving knife ready for use, but saw it was just Sean. His eyes were wide with false surprise, and he held up his hands mockingly to show he was harmless.

"Easy there, vampire huntress lady. Put. The knife. Down."

Cora closed her eyes and sighed. "What are you doing here, Sean?" She placed the knife back on the counter. "Your own house get too boring for you?" A complicated expression appeared on his face, and he leaned against the kitchen counter opposite Cora.

"My father disowned me." Cora just stared at him. "Alexander Sanders was a Class A, Cora. A pureblood. Dad told me he wouldn't have a vampire who killed a pureblood as his son. It's taboo for us to harm them. They can pretty much do what they want." He looked up at her, causing her to look away. "It was my choice to help you, Cora. None of it's your fault."

She nodded. "I understand."

Sean smiled sadly and started to head back to the basement. Then his smile transformed into a smirk.

"I think it'll be more fun here anyway."

**//**


	10. Revelation

**Another time lapse I'm too lazy to fill in. Sean's been living with them for a while… eh, a few weeks? Cora's been keeping her distance, as you can guess. And lets say Sean assists her on her hunts every now and then. But today, after her assigned hunt, Sean smells another one…**

**//**

"How can you be so sure of where he is?" Cora asked as she tried to keep up with Sean as he ran through the town streets. He'd been leading the way for some time now, but only when they turned into the alley did Cora see why.

A teenage girl sat slumped against the side of the alley, bleeding heavily from the wound in her neck. Sean rushed forward to help her, but Cora stopped in her tracks from the strength of the bloody aroma in the air. The thirst had been less lately, but now it returned at full strength and seized her ability to breathe. Sean looked at her questioningly, but kept his hand pressed to the girl's neck to stop the flowing blood.

"I think she'll be okay." He said.

Cora put one hand on one of the brick walls beside her with her other hand on her throat. She gasped for a breath and struggled not to give into her instinct to take what little blood the girl had left.

"Are you alright?" Sean called. "What's-" he stopped when he saw the vampire jump down from the roof of the buildings and jump for Cora. She tried to back away, but only fell back and continued her coughing fit.

Sean landed a hard kick to the vampire's back just as he reached Cora. The vampire turned and slashed out as Sean, who punched him hard on the chest. He staggered backward, giving Sean the chance to pull the gun out of Cora's jeans and shoot. **(I mentioned this before, she tucks the gun in her jeans, leaving the handle of the gun sticking out instead of wearing a gun holster)**

The vampire disintegrated in seconds. Sean turned back to Cora, but she couldn't tell him what was wrong with her. She couldn't speak. He glanced at the human girl across the alley once more, then lifted Cora into his arms and sprinted off.

**//**

"I don't know what's wrong with her, she just collapsed once we got to the victim-" Sean tried to explain. Mr. White nodded and gestured for Sean to bring her to the living room to lay her on the couch. She was still gasping and coughing for a breath of the smothering air.

"Sean, I need you to go get a towel-" Sean sped off and returned in seconds. "Now go clean yourself up. You're covered in blood."

"But-" Mr. White shook his head.

"She'll be just fine, just leave it to me." Sean went back downstairs and quickly changed clothes and washed his hands. When he walked back to the door, he sped up. He could smell fresh blood.

When Sean arrived in the living room, he stopped in the doorway. Mr. White was pressing his now-injured arm to Cora's lips. Cora's eyes were tightly closed, but her hands were gripping the arm in her mouth.

Sean didn't say anything. He didn't need to. Cora was a vampire. And he hadn't even noticed.

**//**

"You must understand why she wouldn't want anyone to know." Sean nodded and closed the dishwasher.

"How long has it been?" Sean asked as he put the unused silverware up. Mr. White shook his head.

"I'm not the one you should be asking. She's the only one who knows the whole story." Sean nodded again. He would rather hear it from her anyway. He didn't want to pry into her past. "It's late Sean, you should go to bed."

So he did.

**//**


	11. My Unbidden Memories: Thirteen

"There's nothing wrong with hunting the guilty vampires, but you do realize that no matter how many you kill-"

His words came to a pause when he had to block my blow. I was 13-years-old then. I attempted again to strike him, this time with my free left hand, but he caught that too. With a simple jerk of his wrists, I dropped to my knees with that short jolt of pain. He released my wrists and held out a hand to me to help me up.

"You need to think your moves out more. Think about what you're going to do if your first attempt fails. Have a plan B ready."

I rubbed my tender wrist and felt my face twist into frustration. I haven't beaten him once since I chose him to be my mentor. I looked up at his outstretched hand, felt my brown hair curve past my eye, then flicked my head to the side to hide the scars. And as I did so, something caught my good eye. A flicker of movement. And I'd been through too much to dismiss it.

"Cora, you asked me to be your mentor, so listen up-"

"Shh!"

"Hey!-" He must have seen the look on my face, because he shut up after that. The look of concentration mixed in with hatred, but most of all, the fear. He reached for his gun, but the vampire wasn't waiting on him.

"No!" But even the legendary Gregory White was too slow for the Class A, pureblooded vampire. The barrel of the gun couldn't clear his belt quick enough to get a shot in before I felt the vampire at my neck, ripping her fangs in, but not bothering to stick around for the rest of my blood before taking off to tend to the bullet wound that appeared in her side. She wouldn't get far.

But neither would I.

I hear a blood-chilling scream —literally, my blood turned to ice at the sound—tear through the forest, but I don't remember forcing the sound from my lungs. My small frame crumpled and folded onto the ground with the pain… the unbearable pain I felt as I succumbed to the vampire's venom.

I opened my eyes. The clock on the wall read two AM. Now I'm on my bed, in Uncle White's house. The taste of his blood was fresh on my lips, the substance revoltingly warm in my stomach.

That day… was long ago. The worst was over for me, but still yet to come, I knew. It's not that I'm not through with the pain, I just don't think the pain is through with me.

**\/**

I had been drifting in and out of consciousness for some time now. Hours? A few days? I didn't know. But this time I didn't fall back into the pained numbness. This time, I was awake.

What time is it? Judging by the light… what light? There was a lamp lit, but I had to squint at the rest of the room since it seemed so intense, like somebody was shining a flashlight in my eyes. Or eye, I should say. A staircase leading up stood in the left corner. No windows. I was in Uncle White's basement.

For that moment of trying to figure out where I was, the pain was momentarily forgotten, but now it returned, magnified a hundred times with my renewed consciousness. My blood was burning with frostbite, my eyes stung from the light. Not to mention all of those little sounds… Sounds I had never heard before: the water moving around through the pipes in the walls, the air blowing out of the air conditioner that resembled the wind of a hurricane or tornado… that mosquito buzzing around in the kitchen upstairs… All these _sounds_… They were driving me crazy. And… I hear this… thumping… a heart beat? Impossible…

Not to mention the smell. Then, I wasn't sure what it was. Not at first. At first, it was all I could breathe. No air, no fresh oxygen that the basement desperately lacked, but instead, this… smell. Scent. It was salty, yet sweet at the same time. I'd never smelled anything like it before, never something that smelled so… delicious. It went straight through my nose, down to my empty stomach, burning all the way down my throat.

That was when I managed to open my mouth for a gasp of the scorching air. Then another. I somehow ended up curled up on the sofa I'd been laid on—every movement a struggle, causing the ice in my blood to crackle like broken glass in my veins—gasping and longing for a breath of air, but all I could get was that smell. That scent.

The scent of blood.

My eyes flew open as the realization materialized in my mind, and the blinding light flooded in. My hand flew from my chest to her neck, feeling smooth skin beneath my fingers. But as I touched the spot where that woman's fangs had pierced my skin, the memory flooded back. That woman's face. Her status.

I knew who she was. I had seen that vampire before, researched her a little. Amelia Bouché. Class A. Pureblood. Sure, there are different levels of vampires, but only the pureblood vampires are born with the venom in their system to change a human into a vampire. That was lesson one of vampire hunting class. Common knowledge.

To change… _No._

"_NO!_" I heard the scream a hundred times louder than I knew I had meant it to be, and I registered the click of the basement door unlocking and somebody entering the room.

"Cora-" I take in another gasp and pull my head into my arms. I knew his voice only been a whisper, but it had entered my ears as a yell, too many decibels too loud.

"Let me out-" I looked at Uncle, but flenched when the sight reached my eye. He was so different through these vampire eyes… It was as if I could see straight through his skin, to the map of blue veins pumping blood beneath. I looked past him at the light pulsing through the open door at the top of the stairs.

And then Uncle froze. In mid-explanation of whatever he was trying to say. But then I realized he hadn't stopped. I had. Time slowed to a still and I could process all of the thoughts fighting for priority in my brain during this little span.

If only I had thoughts to organize... But I could still move. I leapt to my feet and flung myself to the stairs, seeing Uncle slowly begin to turn. And for a second, his eyes caught mine. Except…

There was a mirror behind him. And the eye that was reflected in that mirror wasn't mine. It was the eye of a vampire, stained a crimson red.

Once again, my eyes opened. Now, I was in my room. It was the year 2007. I was past that day. Past the day of my transition. But also… just beginning.

Lately, I had come to this realization. The spell Uncle had tried hadn't worked. It had only slowed my transition time significantly. I was still changing into the vampire. Slowly- but surely.

And eventually, this painful transition would end. My frosty blood would warm, if only slightly, and the light of day would be less blinding. The undying longing for blood would lessen, and I would no longer have to force my unwilling body to consume human food.

But as far as I knew, it could be another year before that happened. Another decade, perhaps. I had no way of knowing. And in all honesty, I couldn't give you a single reason I hadn't given up- killed myself already. I just didn't know. Maybe I wanted to live fore revenge? No. I knew that now. There were too many vampires to kill, and only a limited number of hunters. My life's desire could never happen.

Every single vampire in the world can't just… die.

Because now, that would include me. And… there was another, now. Another vampire I couldn't endanger losing. But I would, if I had to. If I could. I would give up both our lives to rid the world of these monsters…

It was nighttime outside right now. New moon, so it was the darkest time of the month. I'm standing by my window, looking out, almost seeking the moon. Wishing it would show itself so these eyes wouldn't feel so well adjusted to the dark. But I know the dark will only feel more comfortable as time goes on, so I embrace it. I launch myself out the open window and into the night. I would come back, but not until morning.

Not until the sun forced me to cower back inside, out of its reach.

**\/**

**I love writing from her pov :) Merry Christmas, I'll get another chapter up right after this. I'm gonna keep it on fanfiction for now, might post on Booksie when I get everything filled in :)**


	12. Truth in her Lies

**//** \

Cora looked away when Sean met her gaze the next day. Nothing had changed, yet everything was different. Sean knew now. He knew the one thing she hoped to hide from him.

She walked right past him and headed for the stairs. He looked like he wanted to follow her, but he didn't. She was glad. She didn't have anything to say to him.

It was Saturday now, so she didn't have to worry about school. She wasn't sure what was in her room that she needed either, but she didn't have anything else to do so she lay on her bed and observe the ceiling. For a few hours.

She went downstairs when dinner was ready, and returned to her room once she had swallowed a few bites.

That night it rained again. No thunder this time, but the rain was just as heavy. Cora walked down to the basement guest room and hesitated to knock. But when she raised her fist to knock, the door opened and Sean looked back at her.

"Hey." He smiled and moved over to let her down the stairs, but she didn't take a step.

"I'd been waiting all day for you to come up and ask your questions, but…" she trailed off, not really sure what to say.

"What questions?" she looked up at him. "You're a vampire. That's all there is to it." She frowned. "Alexander Sanders was a Class A. You said he almost killed you too. I get it. Your scars show you had a bit of close combat with him, and that's when the vampire's at a greater advantage."

Confusion scrunched his brows together when she just stared.

"Sean, Alexander didn't turn me." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Amelia Bouché did." He shook his head and frowned.

"Oh…" he looked down. "Are… are you sure?" Snodded. Sean looked behind him into the room below. "Can we talk?" She answered by entering and sitting on the couch. Sean left the door open behind them, not that it mattered much since Mr. White was probably asleep anyway.

"I didn't know my mother was a pureblood." Sean said, taking a seat on the foot of his bed. "Sometimes I thought my father was, but never my mom. When she died, my dad told me hunters look for any reason to kill us. That if we so much as step on the crack of a sidewalk they could come after us. That was his explanation. He didn't want to tell me what really happened, I guess."

"That's-"

"Not true." Sean nodded. "I know that now." Their eyes met for a second before Cora looked away.

"I was training with my uncle two years ago when she found us. She knew we were hunters, I guess, and wanted us dead."

Sean did the math.

"You were only thirteen." She nodded. "I apologize on behalf on my mother. For all the pain she's cause you."

Cora shook her head and kept her eyes on the floor. "You should know..." She whispered. "That I cannot forgive her." It was Sean's turn to nod.

The two sat there silently, listening to the muffled pour of the rain above.

The wallpaper on the wall next to the couch had streaks clawed out of it. Cora reached over and traced them. This was where she had first awoken as a vampire. She pulled her hand back and touched the mark on her neck where she'd been bitten, debating whether or not to speak.

"This cross," she said, pulling back her hair a little so he could see, "my uncle tattooed it over the fang marks where she bit me. It was supposed to hold a spell that would keep me from going through the changes, but it was too late to keep me human. The remaining venom affected my body in a half/half crossover into a vampire." She thought about how greatly it failed as her voice dropped to a mutter. Lies within the truth. She didn't want him to know how weak she really was. That she was still changing.

"And now the vampire half of you is constantly at war with your human half, wearing down your body faster than you can handle, and causing your hair to lose its color." He stated correctly. She shrugged.

"My mother deserved to die." He said, surprising her. "Taking the rest of your life like that… it's terrible."

Cora wasn't sure how she felt about him saying that. Then a thought sparked in her mind about something a little more recent than her past.

"What did you do with the girl?" Sean's eyebrows furrowed together. "From last night, the girl!"

"Oh." Sean nodded. "She had her cell phone with her, so I dialed 911 and set the phone in her hand. The EMS was able to trace it to that alley. She'll probably be okay."

"Oh. Okay." Cora pulled her knees up to her chin. It was cold down here. Then again, she was always cold.

Sean watched her for a few seconds, then lie back on the bed and put his hands behind his head. He was thinking about last night too. "Cora? You know how a pureblood vampire's blood supposedly has healing abilities for both humans and vampires?"

Cora blinked. She knew that.

"Especially to a vampire that they turned?" Sean added.

Cora wasn't quite sure where he was going with this. "Your mother's dead, Sean. I can't get any of her blood…"

"She's gone," he said, staring at the ceiling. "But I'm not." Cora's heart skipped a beat as she began to understand.

"You think that…"

"My mother turned you, and I _am _her son. Her blood does flow in me." Sean said slowly.

"You think if I drink your blood…" she muttered shyly, "it'll help me." He nodded. She blinked again, then stood and walked to the stairs. "You truly are an idiot."

**/\00000000/**

Cora lay in bed that night unable to sleep. Her mind was clouded with thoughts of what Sean had said. True, his blood had tempted her, but she had honestly never considered the fact that as Amelia's son, he might have her blood in him.

After drinking some of her uncle's blood, her senses perked up, but they were slowly fading back to their normal strength, so she had to strain her ears to pick up the sound of Sean's breathing two stories below. She was awed to find their breathing in sync. Inhaling, exhaling.

When a knock sounded on the door, the sound boomed in Cora's ears and she nearly fell off the bed in surprise. The door opened and Uncle White stood in the doorway.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" She sat up. She hadn't really seen him since last night.

"I told Sean." She said. "He knows everything now."

Her uncle smiled. "That's good. Secrets aren't always the best choice." He leaned against the doorway. "How're you feeling?"

She rubbed her sheets between her fingers and looked up at him, at the bandage that wrapped his forearm. "Why'd you do that? Why didn't you stop me?"

Her uncle just stared. "What if I had stopped you?" he asked. "What if I hadn't given you blood? Where would you be now?" She blinked. "You wouldn't be here talking to me right now, that's for sure."

"What were my options last night?" she asked. "Drink blood, or…?"

He looked her straight in the eye when he said, "I would have shot you, Cora. Because if you don't drink, eventually, you _will_ die. And as you get to that point, you'll become dangerous as any of those vampires you go out and hunt every weekend. Possibly more dangerous." He said, meaning every word he said.

She looked down. "Thanks for everything, but next time…" He turned and closed the door, maybe a little too roughly, leaving the words in her mouth.

Sean walked away from his door when he heard the stairs creak. She was giving up.

Images of his mother flashed across his closed eyelids as he lay in bed, as well as the thirteen-year-old Cora he had seen two years ago. They had gone to the same school since she began living with her uncle, of course she kept her distance even then, but when she disappeared from school, Sean never gave it much thought.

He could only remember the short but curled brown hair she had before, always sure to keep her bangs over that one eye. The school uniform was the only thing he'd ever remembered her wearing, and the only memory of a smile was on school picture day, when the photographer frowned at the way her hair blocked his view of her face, she'd forced the corners of her lips upward. Ever so slightly.

Then Sean tried to visualize his mother… sinking her fangs into a terrified Cora's neck. A shudder dripped down his spine at the thought. He had never known his mother was a pureblood. What about his father? Now he was curious… worried, almost. But what did it matter? He had never bitten a human.

He shoved away thoughts of wonder about how it might taste... Any time an opportunity had come up, whether it be a loner in the woods or something of the nature, curiosity had never gotten the better of him. He'd just push away the thoughts, take the tablets. It was never a problem. Not even now.

Last night, he had held his hand over a wound to stop the bleeding. Hadn't bothered him in the least. And Cora… Her reaction… was it just from her not having enough blood? Was she on the blood tablets? Did she ever take them?

A half-vampire… Sean spent most of the night pondering these new questions. How was she so different? In ways, she seemed weaker before, but he always thought she was human. All humans are weak, at least to the vampires. But if she _was_ a vampire…

Eventually his thoughts were overcome by fatigue and sleep took over. Cloudy images of his mother, biting Cora's neck swam in and out of his dreams, along with curious fantasies of bloody tastes, but unlike the blood tablets, these tastes were real.

**//**

**Some insight on Sean, I guess. Eh. **


	13. Maybe

Sean hadn't been asleep long when he woke up and heard Cora choking two floors above. He made his way upstairs and down the hallway toward the first door on his left, where a light shined through the cracked door. The door was pushed open, revealing a sickening sight.

Cora was on her knees, coughing up amounts of blood into the toilet. But the scent wasn't that of real blood, nor of the imitation scent of blood tablets, it was that of a sickening mix of the two. She tilted her head to look at him where he stood in the bathroom doorway for a second, but quickly looked away and closed her red eyes.

Sean didn't wait long before kneeling at her side and placing a comforting hand on her back. A few minutes later, her coughing slowed. She took a shaky breath and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.

"You okay?" he scooted back a little to give her some space when she sat back against the bathtub. She took a few more deep breaths and shook her head. Her eyes were still shut, her arms hugging her waist.

"Hey…" He whispered, scooting up. "Just let me know if…" He put one hand on the side of her head. She clenched her teeth together as she panted, revealing her fangs. Sean leaned forward so that his neck was closer to her mouth. She pressed her head against the cold, porcelain tub behind her.

"No…" she opened her eyes and looked at him apologetically before wrapping one hand behind his neck and pulling herself forward. Sean didn't flinch as her tongue brushed his neck, but only laid a gentle hand on her waist as her fangs pierced his skin.

Sean held her gently as she drank. He would stop her before she drank enough to make her vomit again, which wouldn't be long at the rate she was going.

"Hey," He whispered, moving his hand from her waist to her neck. "That's enough." When she didn't stop, he used his free hand to take hold of her other hand. She gave his hand a squeeze, then withdrew her fangs from his neck, but she kept her forehead pressed to crevice of his collar bone, unknowingly allowing a smear of blood onto her forehead. Sean stroked her back once as he removed his hand from her neck, but held on to her other hand until she let go and pulled back.

Cora was glad to see the wound heal as she withdrew, but Sean couldn't dismiss the blood that boldy stained her pale face and hair.

"Don't…" she muttered, "don't ever let me do that to anybody." She slowly shook her head. She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. "You have to stop me if I get that out of control ever again." He stared at her sadly, her eyes for once locked onto his. "You were born this way." She muttered, almost to herself. "You just don't get this way, do you? Ever?"

"I've never tasted human blood." He was still kneeling in front of her, and his eyes were the first to drop this time, choosing a drop of blood on the floor. His blood. To him, there was the scent of blood, and there was the scent of his blood. His blood… It smelled bitter, in a way. To him, at least. "Born this way, I never ate human food. All I've ever tasted was the tablets."

She looked away when he looked back up at her. She would have laughed, seeing how it was becoming a game. She'd look at him, he'd look away. He'd look at her, she'd look away. He was winning.

"Do you feel better?" he asked, after a pause. Cora closed her eyes. Yes? No? The desperate appetite for blood was still there, but… she just didn't know. Maybe.

Cora met Sean's gaze for a couple of seconds before looking away again. "Get out." She muttered. "I can't think straight with you sitting right there."

"Right." Sean nodded and stood to leave. "Goodnight."

Cora closed her eyes once he'd left. "Goodnight…" she muttered.

**//**

**:/ grumble grumble grumble… couldn't get it right.**


	14. My Unbidden Memories: To Become

Uncle and Sean will be home tomorrow. Everything's fine.

I threw the blood tablets across the room, staring at them for a only a moment before picking them up and setting them on my nightstand as I flop onto my bed and slip into the memories that haunt my dreams.

\/

I knew I was running, but I swear it must have been like flying. With each step, my feet barely brushed the earth, but at the same time, it was my pounding steps that propelled me through the trees. The moon overhead shone brightly as the sun did- use to…

I didn't even know where I was going until there were people in front of me. A vampire- Another vampire held her prey in a death grip, the blood dripped down her chin and onto her own throat. That beast. But I couldn't even have reached for my gun, even had it been at its place on my belt, for once I was on my knees, I was immobilized. The smell rushed into my lungs as if I had been dunked in a pool of it, so thick I felt I could see it swimming around me.

The human was already dead when she— the vampire—turned toward me and released him, now holding onto the collar of his shirt very unceremoniously with one hand. Blood swam in her eyes, and I'm sure mine reflected hers at that moment as well. The neck was still dripping—she wasn't finished yet—and I felt like concrete as I used every drop of will-power to remain motionless, afraid that any move I made would result in my fangs—_fangs_—in the neck of the dead man. The thought was revolting, and my barren stomach felt like dry sandpaper by now.

"Ah... A newborn." I couldn't look back at her; my eyes were locked on the blood that was pooling in the soil. "He's already dead, so it'll ruin the excitement of your first kill, but here, I saved you some." She held the body out to me, but I remained motionless, even as she offered me her sympathy. She dropped the body when she saw I wasn't taking her offer.

"Too late, accept it already. You're a vampire now." I could feel her curious gaze on my face as she knelt in front of me. How would she know how difficult this is for me? A hunter? "You're probably at the point where blood is drowning the air from your lungs. You probably already know what it tastes like, though a drop hasn't touched your tongue." Why is she still talking to me? I wished she would shut up and let me suffer. Let me die. "The point when your blood turns to ice."

A strangled sound left my lips as I crumpled to my hands as well. I clenched the grainy dirt in my fists, seeing what I knew was brown dirt and dry leaves as an endless ocean of crimson blood. It was everywhere. Sloshing up my arms, covering my face…

"Hey!" A kick forced me onto my side, and had anything been in my stomach, I would have puked with the heighted sensation of breaking ribs. The whole left side. Shattered. I couldn't even gasp.

"Drink up or die, your choice." The human dropped next to me, but I looked up at the beast looming over me with the gaze of a killer. She was dead, if I ever saw her again.

"Go to hell, vampire." I cursed as best I could, but her frown only deepened.

"I'm trying to help you. I don't want you to die." Yeah. That's why you demolished my ribs. But with the injuries brought more thirst, reminding me of my hunger. She was trying to force me to drink. And she knew she was about to get her wish. And as I moved, my whole body screamed in protest, but my heart sped up with sickening excitement.

I was about to drink this guys blood. The vampire smiled as she walked away, leaving me alone. Finally. But… I felt tears stream like rain down my face as I leaned toward the blood. Toward my new source of life. Nothing can ever be the same. This is what I am now.

I returned home as the sun began to rise, seeking shelter from this new light. Blood stained my clothes. Uncle didn't move an inch as I walked through the living room, to the stairs. Once I nearly drowned myself in the shower, I threw on some clothes and lowered myself into bed. Even beneath the blankets, I was freezing. I tried to distract myself—count the spots on the wood floor, try to recall the names of the presidents—but the scent of blood remained in the air, all over me, even after the shower. Even the smell of Uncle's blood. I don't know how I walked past him on my way in, but now it took conscious effort to stay in bed, away from him.

Two people. Dead. The first was the offering from that other vampire, whom I hoped to introduce to my father's gun, but the second was my fault. I… I just attacked her. She screamed some, but passed out after I pierced that artery with my fangs. I don't know how many times I bit her—tearing into this new life. By the time I was done, my ribs had sewn themselves back together, and I fell to my knees and vomited half her blood back up. And even after that, the vampire in me bit her yet again, draining her last drops until she was cold as I was.

And even then, the thirst still dwelled in my throat. I always wondered what was with these beasts… always attacking, wreaking havoc for us hunters to clean up. And I hated this new perspective on them… I hated understanding why they do it… And around that point was when I realized that any hunter could have seen me attack the girl… I was so engulfed in the new sensations, I never would have noticed. What am I going to do? _I'm_ the hunted now. I can't go back to the hunters' headquarters… would they notice right away? Or would I give myself away?

Life sucks. Then you die. End of your story. But hey, life goes on. Even when important people die, the world keeps turning, so especially when you're just a teenage girl, don't get so full of yourself.

\/

I'm drowning.

This isn't part of the dream.

Rough ashes and dark smoke course their way into my lungs, sucking the oxygen right out of the air. The house is on fire.

That's an understatement: The house is burning down.

If I'm on the second floor, and this much smoke is in my room, then I'm sure the basement is going too.

There's just so much smoke…

I've been asleep too long. I should have woken up before now. As soon as I try to stand, I know. My head spins, maybe from last nights thirst episode, but when my sight blurs the world in and out of existence, I know all I can do is try to get out of the burning house.

**\/ /\**

**I love writing her memories :) So, I was thinking maybe Sean and Cora's uncle went out of town on some sort of school thing or maybe a business trip that Uncle had to go to and needed company and seemed like Cora needed space… ugh idk. I'll fill in some more of everything later on…**


	15. Rescues and Whispers

"Cora!" Sean called as he jumped into the burning house **(a/n: cliché, whatever) **. She had to be in here somewhere. "Cora!"

He strained his ears, but couldn't hear any sign of her through the cackling of the fire. When he'd looking through every room on the first floor, he headed for the stairs, which only reminded him he didn't have much more time before the whole building came down.

Sean constantly called Cora's name, and once he got up the stairs, he saw why she couldn't answer. She was in the hallway, but one of the thick wooden beams that run through the ceiling had burned out on one end and fallen across her, pinning her to the floor and crushing her body.

"Oh, my god… Cora!" Sean gasped a sigh of relief when he saw her hand ball up into a fist.

"Ca...t… b…" she choked when she heard him running forward. He quickly assessed the situation. **(gr, she's trying to say can't breath. But obviously she cant speak so…)**

"We've probably got less than two minutes until the propane tank beneath the house explodes, Cora. I have to get you out of here." She nodded as much as she could. "Don't move…" He was terrified to see the part of the wooden beam holding her down was burning. He did his best to gently scoot her out of the way while holding up the heavy beam.

"Don't try to stand." He warned when he saw her fumble with trying to lift herself. When she was out of the beam's way, he set the beam down carefully, trying not to make the house come down any faster.

"Cora, I need you to keep breathing, okay? Stay with me." She grit her teeth and buried her face into his shoulder as he lifted her into his strong arms.

When Sean felt a slight rumble beneath his feat as he headed for the stairs, he changed his direction for the bathroom. He dove into the tub as carefully as he could and covered Cora's face as the gas source downstairs exploded. Some debris from the roof crumbled onto his back, and more came in from the doorway, spraying him with splinters. An earthquake sensation shook the world as Sean lay over the dying girl, but it was over as soon as it had begun.

After it settled, Sean looked up. They weren't upstairs anymore.

There was no upstairs anymore.

He looked down at Cora. She was unconscious now; her heartbeat weak. When he held his fingers near her lips, he could barely feel her breath, even with his strengthened senses. And now was the first time he saw that most of her shirt had burned and melted to her skin. Things weren't looking too good for her.

The walls… the only layer of wall that was left was a sheet of fire, miraculously still burning after all this time. Then, somehow, Sean found them both outside. He didn't remember scooping Cora up, passing through the fire, or handing her to the paramedics who awaited them.

But he remembered that last whisper of her breath against his skin before he handed her over. He remembered the sight of her melted flesh, of her crumpled body.

He remembered how it felt, sure that he would lose her.

**//**

**Grumble grumble grumble :) [ugh, not happy with anything lately]**


	16. Hospitalized

When they got to the hospital, Cora was rushed off in a different direction than they led Sean. He tried to shake them off and follow her, but almost losing his balance and nearly falling over –dizzy from the scent of so much blood in the hospital-didn't convince them he was okay.

They used tweezers to pick out the splinters in his face and back, but luckily that was the only injury they could find, so they offered him a clean shirt and freed him to go.

He wasn't allowed to see her yet. They said she was having surgery for her multiple burns and broken bones. He sat outside the door, too impatient to wait in the waiting room, and listened to the doctors inside talking about the severity of her condition. Once or twice he heard them ask whether or not she was still breathing. Sean didn't need the annoying beeping to know her heart rate was too slow.

He hated not being able to do anything. He considered studying to become a doctor. Then he almost laughed at his own stupidity. When a nurse passed with blood tests, he had to hold his breath.

After two hours or so, he heard the doctors finish up. They left the room, and Sean stood to enter, but he was stopped by one of them.

"Family members only at this time."

"Yeah, she's my sister." Sean said impatiently. The doctor eyed him up and down and narrowed his eyes—Sean wasn't surprised, Cora's albino white hair and blue eyes compared nicely with his brown and green. He eventually held the door open for him.

A young nurse had just finished wrapping bandages around Cora's whole torso when he entered. She was still unconscious. Sean wasn't surprised. He walked over and pulled up a chair to sit.

The nurse glanced at him while she wrote on a clipboard.

"You're one lucky brother." She said. Sean just nodded. He noticed someone had used a bobby pin to clip her hair away from her blind eye. The nurse sat down in her rolling chair on the other side of the hospital bed.

"Where'd she get those scars from?" she asked, looking at Sean for an answer. He glanced at her for a second before answering.

"Do you need that information for your clipboard? Because frankly, you don't want to know."

The nurse looked away, apologizing as she made her exit.

Sean leaned forward and carefully removed the bobby pin to let her hair hide her eye.

He looked over and saw the nurse had left the clipboard. He walked around the bed to get a look at it. It looked bad. A large surface area of second degree burns, as bad as third degree in some places. Two broken ribs, bruised lungs. Total recovery time of at least six months.

He set the clipboard back down and returned to his seat. Her heart rate had picked up a little since earlier, at a much healthier pace now. Her breathing was still a little shallow, but if her lungs were bruised, it was no wonder.

Mr. White opened the door, and was surprised to see Sean.

"How'd you get in? I had to fill out a whole bunch of papers stating I'm her uncle…" He looked at Cora and walked over to stand at her bedside. "The doctor told me about her condition. Can you tell me what happened?"

Sean didn't move his gaze from Cora as he gave his description. He ended by asking, "Did they figure out what caused the fire?"

White shook his head. "They found that it started on the first floor, but the damage was so bad, they couldn't tell."

It was Sean's turn to shake his head. "I just… wish I knew how this happened. On that night, of all nights. If we were there, we might have woken up in time to…" do something? Who knew.

"What if someone knew we were gone?" he mumbled, half to himself. White nodded sadly. "What if someone is still targeting her?"

"That's a possibility. People have wanted her dead before."

Sean looked up at the camera in the corner of the room. Likely just for monitoring patients, making sure they weren't sleep-walking out windows or anything, but it hindered them more than that.

"She'd heal faster if she could get some blood." Sean muttered.

"True, but for now there's nothing we can do about that. She'll just have to depend on her human half to pull her through."

A doctor opened the door.

"Are you her caretaker? I need to speak with you for a moment." They left the room.

Sean ever-so carefully stroked the side of Cora's face.

"Let's just hope half is enough."


	17. The Mystique of it all

Cora knew Sean was the only one in the room before she even had to open her eyes. Eye. Whatever. **(sorry) ** Her eyes blinked open and saw he was gazing intently at her. Unnerving.

"Hey." He muttered. She turned her head toward him.

"Hey." She croaked. Her voice was hoarse from breathing the smoke for so long, but also from not using it in a few days. She looked down at herself. She wore sweatpants on her legs, but her top half wore nothing but bandages. She found that it hurt. An IV was attached to her wrist. All of the fluids in her made her feel dizzy and nauseous.

"Do you remember anything?" he asked her nearly in a whisper. She closed her eyes.

"You lifted the beam off of me. I remember you calling my name from a distance. You were downstairs. Before that, I remember waking up choking. The whole house was burning by then…" she opened her eyes, but stared at the ceiling as she tried to recall that night. "I had fallen asleep."

Sean nodded. "I mean before. What were you doing that evening before you went to bed? Did you see anyone?" she closed her eyes again.

"I was assigned a vampire, but I was supposed to hunt him with the team. There were two other hunters with me until we eliminated the vamp. After that I headed back to the house…" an image of red eyes flashed through her mind. "There was another one." She looked at Sean. "There was another vampire. I don't think I even realized I'd seen her. She was outside the window. The kitchen window."

Sean nodded slowly as he pieced it together.

"Revenge, maybe?" he suggested. "Maybe it was a friend of the vampire you'd hunted that night. Vampires love revenge."

"I guess so… but wouldn't it have been easier for her to outright kill me? Get the satisfaction of drinking my blood?" she didn't think a vengeful vampire would give up fresh blood. "Why burn me…?" She gingerly put a hand on her stomach. It was scattered pain, though. The third-degree burns had damaged nerves.

"I don't know…" he muttered, looking at the floor. "It's a mystery."

Cora's uncle walked in, relief washing over his face when he saw she was awake. He smiled and approached her bedside.

"Cora says she saw another vampire at the house after her hunt." Sean said. "She disregarded it and went to bed though. She could have wanted revenge for his friend, but why go through the trouble of burning down the house? Why waste the blood?"

Mr. White furrowed his eyebrows together. "Hm…" then he looked at Sean. "She hasn't been awake for five minutes, but you start questioning her immediately in her state? Leave the girl alone, Sean. She needs her strength to recover. Speaking of blood…" he put his hand in his pocket, then nodded at Sean. He nodded back then walked over to stand at an angle where the camera wouldn't see Cora receiving the tablets.

"Here, you need to at least try." He held one close to her mouth. She sighed and opened her mouth to receive it.

"You were admitted here two days ago with two broken ribs and more than the lethal amount of burns of multiple degrees. They estimate your full recovery at eight months. You can come home in a few weeks, though." Her uncle turned to leave. "Come on, Sean, leave her alone. She needs her rest."

"Yeah, be right there." Mr. White nodded and left.

Sean stood and moved closer to the bed. She turned her head away when he reached out to stroke it. "Don't." she warned. He smirked.

"Rest. Get well." He muttered. She didn't see him as he leaned down to kiss her forehead so she couldn't dodge him this time. "We'll figure this out."


	18. Inevitability

**This part was fun to write… teehee I love the bloody scenes… :)**

**//**

After six weeks, the doctors released Cora from the hospital. The whole ride home, and much to her annoyance, Sean monitored Cora as she looked out the window. Every bump sent jarred pain through her body, but she kept her mouth shut and teeth clenched so tight Sean swore her teeth were cracking under the pressure.

"Can I come in?"

Later that evening, Sean cracked the door open to Cora's room. She sat against the wall opposite the door with her tin of blood substitute lying next to her, open, with some of the white pills dumped on the floor. One hand was held to her neck, the other gripping – ripping - the curtain behind her. Sean rushed over, but she shrank back from him when he reached out to touch her face and calm her down.

"Cora, Cora look at me. Look at me!" Sean grabbed her chin and forced her to face him. She opened her red eyes and clenched her teeth so that her fangs were visible. Sudden strength surged in her. She knocked his hand away and pushed him back.

A surprised Sean didn't prevent himself from falling backward, but stared at her in surprise as she let out an unbidden cry of pain. He reached out for her again.

She moved fast. Sean didn't stop her—didn't have time to—when she grabbed him by the shirt and thrust him against the wall, but flinched when she dug her fangs ruthlessly into his neck.

Sean let her drink, but when she didn't stop as he began to feel tired, he tried to gently push her back. She withdrew her fangs and took a few deep breaths, but didn't pull her head away from his neck.

"Hey-" Sean winced again when she sank her teeth into his neck once more, though much more kindly this time. He blinked, watching the world go out of focus though he was sitting.

She needed to stop. Sean took a deep breath and pushed her away roughly. She fell back and looked at him with murderous eyes Sean had never seen before in her. He could feel the wound close itself up immediately, but he still felt frail and weary.

"More." Cora panted, licking her lips and pulling herself toward him again. Sean's attempt to hold her back were futile, and she drained him of more blood

"Stop!-" Sean summoned the strength to mutter. "Stop…" His eyes closed and Cora felt his body relax and slump against the wall.

She blinked a few times. The redness drained from her eyes, and her fangs withdrew from his neck. Blood dripped down her chin and neck, covering Sean's shirt. Cora sighed with relief when she saw he was still breathing, but still had to force herself to jump out the open window to get away from him.

"I'm sorry." She whispered after she hit the ground, but nevertheless disappeared into the trees.

**//**

Cora didn't sense her until it was too late. She came from behind and snatched Cora's gun from her jeans, throwing her against a tree in the process. She followed after Cora before she could right herself. She pressed the barrel of the gun into Cora's ribs, still sore and healing. Cora grit her teeth and peeled her eyes open to see who her attacker was.

Except she could only see her light hair, since she held her mouth close to Cora's ear.

"You'll do what I say, or all five of these bullets will find a place in your chest."She twisted the gun, as well as Cora's skin. A silent cry of pain echoed in her eyes.

"What do you want?" She muttered as much as she could with her teeth grinding.

She smirked. "Sean Bouché. That's what I want."

**/\**

"Do you think she'll come back?"

Sean looked up at Mr. White to answer, but then closed his mouth. After he found Sean covered in blood in Cora's room, he didn't have to ask what had happened and helped him clean himself up since he was too weak to do it alone. Cora had barely left him alive – vampires could still die if drained of all their blood – but every minute he was feeling better.

"I don't know." Sean answered. It had been a few hours, but neither knew how long the girl would stay gone.

The girl's uncle worriedly paced to the window. "This is how she left last time. I'd promised her mom I would take care of her if anything happened…"

"Nothing's going to happen to her." Sean popped a blood capsule into his mouth, then carefully stood up. "I'll find her."


	19. Gunshots and Misses

**I admit, this is kind of short to be a chapter of its own, but I couldn't put it in with anything else. That's why I didn't wait to add this after the others. Another scene highly based on the manga and anime. You'll see.**

**//**

Cora examined the gun in her hand, but didn't see anything new. The metallic silver still gleamed in the sun, and her father's name was still engraved on the side. She took a handful of shaky breaths and clicked the safety off.

The taste of Sean's blood was still on her tongue. When he walked into her room, she had known he was good as dead. Being in a hospital, surrounded by untouchable blood and fluids forced into her unwilling body for six weeks took a toll on her body. She had been aching when he had walked in. Someone was going to get hurt.

But now she was through hurting people. She was done with the pain.

Her finger ignored the trigger guard as she let the muzzle rest in the crook of her neck.

A shot echoed through the woods, but Cora opened her eyes to see Sean lying across her with his hand pinning her shooting arm against the ground. Pressure was relieved from Cora's sensitive ribs as Sean sat up, the gun now in his hands.

"What were you doing!" He yelled angrily. "The safety isn't on, you could have killed-!" He blinked dizzily a few times, but his face softened when he saw tears silently crawling down Cora's cheek.

"This won't solve anything." The words didn't reach her. "People worry about you." She turned her head back toward him. He flipped the safety back on and placed the gun in her hands. "People who care about you. Don't be so selfish. Take it easy on your uncle; he thinks he's doing a bad job at taking care of you." Cora wiped the tears from her eyes and tucked the gun away.

"Come on." Sean stood clumsily and held a hand out to her, but Cora stood without help. She would always be this way. She would always keep her heart closed. That, Sean could not change.


	20. Up on the Rooftop

**Before I start, thanks. To my viewers/reviewers. For reviewing. **

**DofD, you won't believe it. SOMEBODY ELSE ACTUALLY COMMENTED! :D :D **

**ZeroLover, (TEAM ZERO FTW) you are officially the second person reading this story as far as I know, so you're my reviewer of the week! I was just gonna go to bed tonight without bothering to update anything 'till tomorrow too… But when I saw I had another review, all that coffee from seven hours ago kicked in. Yayz :) **

**DofD, you're subscriber of the eternity. Thanks for all the support :)**

**To anyone else out there that's reading this but isn't reviewing to let me know, speak up and you might get an awesome author's note such as this in your honor!**

**Yall ready for this? Chapter 16.**

**//**

Sean glanced around the classroom when the teacher marked Cora absent. It was the first day back from summer break **(ugh, don't even ask what kind of timeline this story is going on. I just needed it to be August) **and he'd seen her in the kitchen that morning; she'd actually been eating, too. Throughout the day, Cora was absent from all her classes, and when Sean returned to the house after school, she wasn't home.

But that night, he could hear her outside.

Sean sat next to Cora on the roof. She shook her head, disbelievingly.

"So what part of a person staying on the roof sounds like she doesn't want to be alone?"

Sean looked up at the stars, then down at her. "Nobody wants to be alone on her birthday."

She looked up at him. "How did you know it was my birthday?"

"'Chairman told me earlier." He broke their gaze. "Happy birthday."

"There isn't anything happy about it." She put her chin on her knees. "Today's the anniversary of my parents' death." Sean paled.

"It's already been seven years." He stated. She didn't nod. She didn't have to.

"I spent the day at the cemetery. I would have been too distracted at school anyway." She pretended to be engrossed with her nails so she wouldn't have to meet those searching eyes.

"I want to give you something. For your birthday." Sean said. She didn't blink. "It had been in my family for a long time…" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin gold chain. A small reddish-orange gemstone in the shape of an oval was strung on it.

"Meaning… it used to be your mom's." Sean nodded, unsure if she'd still want it.

"Painite. The rarest gem in the world. It's said to give strength to vampires." He held it out to her. "I thought you might need it more than I do."

She hesitated, but eventually took it. She hooked the clasp behind her neck.

"I don't feel any stronger." She muttered. "Maybe because I'm not a full vampire. It doesn't work." She started to take it off, but he put his hands over hers and shook his head.

"You can keep it, still. It's a gift." She scooted away from him and put the necklace in her pocket all the same.

"Stop." She whispered, shutting her eyes. "Please, just stop."

"Stop what?" he asked, sincerely curious. "What am I doing that makes you upset?" She opened her eyes and looked at him with her now red eyes. He scooted closer slowly, but for once she didn't move away. He looked her in the eye; she looked back, but tears began to pool.

"Don't." She whispered when he continued to move closer and closer until their faces were inches apart.

"You're afraid." He whispered. "You're afraid that I'll be taken away from you, just like your parents were." She blinked and tears fell. "I won't let that happen." He wiped her tears away from both her eyes. "I promise."

She didn't blink when he closed the space between their lips. After a couple of seconds, he pulled back an inch and looked back into her eye. She took a shaky breath.

"I'm afraid." She said with a slight nod. "That you'll disappear. That something bad will happen to you." She closed her eyes tightly. "But-" she shook her head and wrapped a hand around her own waist, around the pain. "But it also hurts." Her voice cracked, and more tears dripped from her eyes. "The closer you are," she continued, but Sean finished for her.

"The more tempting the blood is."

He bowed his head with her nod.

"Okay." Her eyes opened as he inched away. He understood, didn't want to cause her more pain.

"I'm sorry." She said, standing up on the roof and backing away. Sparkling tears were left yet to fall as she turn her back on him.

"Don't apologize." He said, after she was gone. "Not to me."

**/00000000000000o\//**

"Get him away from the house." The vampire said as she walked toward Cora and took her shoulders between her hands. Cora squeezed her eyes shut when the vampire pulled her shirt away from her neck. The band-aid was roughly ripped from her previous wound, and her fangs sank back in. More of the pureblood's venom entered her system, but it somehow gave her strength.

"Maybe, if you can tell me what you want from him…" Cora spoke with a strong voice. "I can just bring it to you. You won't have to hurt him."

She took one last gulp and pulled back. "_Have_ to?" She chuckled evilly. "Or _get_ to? I'm your master now. You do what _I_ say."

**//**

That night, Cora stayed out of the house. She couldn't confront Sean yet.

"Oh- sorry…" Cora apologized and looked at the girl on the ground across from her. They'd both been running pretty fast, both in opposite directions, so when they collided, it was no surprise they both ended up in the dirt. But that wasn't the reason Cora stared.

The girl held a hand to her dizzy head, but stared back at Cora. "I… You…"

Cora scrunched her eyebrows together. Cora knew her too.

But the girl was the first to speak. Recognition and shock crossed her face. "Oh, my god…" she whispered and shook her head, wanting with all her might that what she was seeing wasn't true. "Cora… What did they do to you?"

The two stood, never peeling their gaze from the other. "Liz." Cora choked, her voice strangled from recent encounters. "It's been a rough two years."

"It must have been." They just stood there, looking at each other. "Do you… Do you want to go get some coffee or something?" Liz gave a nervous laugh and brushed blonde bangs behind her ear. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

Cora looked down. "Actually…" she stopped.

Liz was the first person to reach out to her after her parents were killed. She was one of the few people who knew the truth about how her parents died, and how she got her scars. Liz was her friend. But she hated vampires. _Hated. _

With all of her being.

But she was Cora's friend, and they hadn't seen each other in over two years.

"I… I think that sounds great." Cora smiled. Liz took Cora's hand and led the way.

**//**

**If you two are wondering, doesn't like Microsoft word page breaks (scene changes, etc.), so that's why they're just a bunch of slashes and o's…**

**And now I shall complain about how my computer freezes and has to restart the internet whenever I try to go to the fanfiction archives. It's only letting me update. So gr.**

**More about Liz next chapter.**


	21. No Comment

"So, Cora…" Liz began after they received their coffee. They were at a local coffee shop they used to visit sometimes before Liz moved. Liz laughed when they saw it was still open. Neither girl had been there since before Cora was attacked. "How're you doing?" Cora opened her mouth to answer, but then Liz added, "Honest answer only." Cora closed her mouth and stayed silent.

"You always were the 'suffer silently' type." Liz whispered. They sat quietly for a while, Liz sipped her coffee, Cora pretended to. She used to love the bitterly-sweet flavor, the soothing aroma. But now, the bitterness scalded her tongue. The scent overwhelmed her thoughts.

"Where'd you go, Cora?" Liz asked, her blue eyes full of questions. "I wondered, no, _worried_ about you. For two _years_. I left you the address I was moving to, I _wrote_ you, Cora." Liz looked up at Cora, but she just stared into her coffee. "I stopped after the tenth letter. I figured it was time for me to wait for you to decide to write back." It would hurt Liz to know what happened to Cora, but it would hurt Cora to lie to Liz.

"I…" Cora began. "I've been having some problems." She looked up. "It's been hard, these past two years. I had to deal with some stuff, stuff that I had to do by myself. I guess the stress from all of it got to my hair especially." Cora laughed insincerely.

"You don't have to lie to me, Cora." Liz said sadly. "You don't have to force a laugh. You can tell me what happened."

_No,_ Cora thought, looking down. _No, I can't._

"Maybe, some other time." Cora whispered. She looked up, obviously uncomfortable. "Can we—um—change the subject?" Liz smiled.

"I was heading out for a hunt when I ran into you." She finished off her coffee in one last gulp and stood. "You coming?"

**//**

It was her. She saw Cora. Their eyes were locked together.

Cora couldn't move.

"Cora." Liz hissed as quietly as she could. "Shoot, Cora!" but she couldn't. She was frozen.

The vampire in front of them smirked and attacked. She went for Liz first, and Liz had her hands full fending her off. Cora was forced to watch.

"What's wrong with you, Cora?" Liz yelled. "I need your help!" the vampire pulled Liz's hands behind her back and twisted them. A yelp sounded from Liz's lips and the gun fell from her grasp. The vampire pulled Liz close and put her lips on her neck. Liz's wide eyes found Cora's.

Then it was over. The vampire released Liz, and disappeared.

Cora rushed to Liz's side when she fell to her knees. Liz took a deep breath.

"What. The. Hell, Cora?" She looked up at Cora and rose to her feet. Cora stood as well. When Liz saw the pained and apologetic look in her eyes, she apologized. "I mean, sorry. I just…" she shook her head. "I could have died, Cora. Right there. She had my neck in her mouth. I don't know why she didn't."

Cora picked up the gun and handed it back to Liz. "I don't know what happened, Liz. I'm sorry. I just… I couldn't move." Liz smiled slightly and put a hand on Cora's shoulder, but it caused Cora to stiffen.

"It's fine. I'm fine." Liz took her hand off Cora's shoulder. "Let's go."

**//**

"Hey, I didn't know you were hunting today." Sean greeted Cora when she walked in the door. He was lying on the couch, uncharacteristically watching the news. He'd been waiting for her to come home.

Cora continued on her way to the stairs. "Yeah, neither did I."

"Wait- Cora." Sean called quietly after her. She stopped halfway up the stairs and turned around. He stood, but didn't walk toward her. He just looked at her for a few seconds, then spoke up again. "I'm sorry. About last night. I…"

"It's fine." She said, turning to walk back up the stairs. "Goodnight."

He was at her side before she reached the top of the stairs. "Wait, Cora. I-" but she pushed him away once more.

"Stop. You said you'd stop." She whispered as she looked away and started heading back up the stairs.

"I never said that." He backed down the stairs a little, giving her some space. "I'm not ready to give up on you, Cora. Even if you are."

She stopped and spun around, words forming in her mouth, but he was already gone.

**//**

"Thanks, Cora, for letting me stay at your place." Liz grabbed her coat from the rack by the door. "Now that the rain has let up, maybe I can walk at least to the bus stop."

"Any time." Cora said from where she sat on the couch with her books. It had been a week since Liz moved back into town and started attending Memorial High. The two hadn't talked to each other much since then, but they silently hung around each other throughout the days. It was a comfortable silence.

Liz reached for the knob, but it opened before her. Sean started his 'smile and nod' routine, but Liz backed away and narrowed her eyes.

"_Vampire."_ She hissed. Sean looked questioningly at Cora. She looked between them, unsure of what to do. Liz turned her piercing gaze to Cora. "Who is this, Cora?"

"That's Sean. He's…"

"He _lives_ with you?"

"No!" Cora closed her eyes and shook her head. "I mean, yes, but it's not like that, Liz-"

"Then what's it like, Cora? Why's he in your house?"

Cora looked at Sean for help. He nodded.

"I'm not a bad guy, Liz. I helped Cora kill a bad pureblood, and my dad disowned me because of it. Mr. White had been more of a father to me than my real dad had been, so this is the only place I had to go."

Liz only stared.

"He's telling the truth, Liz. He is." Liz looked back at Cora.

"Cora, I…" Liz glanced at Sean one more time before heading back for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

The door shut behind her.

"So," Sean said, breaking the silence and casually taking a seat across from Cora in a chair. "I take it you two are close?"

"Liz was my best friend before I was turned. She lost her parents and both of her sisters to vampires."

"How much does she know about you?" he asked. "Does she know about your becoming a vampire?" Cora looked out the window, though the curtains only left a small gap of view.

"She knows the truth about my parents and my scars. I met her when I joined the hunters association. But two years ago, only days before my attack, she had to move out of state with her uncle. She never knew about what happened."

Sean sat forward and put his elbows on his knees. "What do you think she'd do if she knew?" he asked. "It sounds like she isn't very fond of us."

Cora shook her head and looked back toward Sean. "I don't know."

**//**

**Grumble grumble grumble.**

**The last chapter said something about it being chapter 16? Yeah, just kidding I think it was chapter 20.**


	22. Anemia

**AAAAH! (Pretend that was a really loud, freakish scream)**

**It appears I have found out how to get people to start reviewing… *devious smile***

**RINAKO! AGH! So SO sorry to forget to mention you! I feel so bad!**

**And sorry everyone who just added this to your favs without a review: Iheartmostthings, and MeliaAlexander, it was uncalled for for me to thank everyone else except you Dx**

**Reviewer of the day is Bri Barbiekiller for speaking up with an awesome review :)**

**DofD, you're still my fav.**

**Thanks for the support guys/ladies :)**

**/\/00/**

"Ouch-" Liz held a hand up, forfeiting the round. She staggered backward and leaned against a tree. Liz had wanted to spar with Cora for a little after school, and had chosen a clearing in the woods near Cora's house.

"Are… you okay?" Cora took a hesitant step forward, but stopped.

"Yeah, I think so…" She rolled up her jeans. The cut wasn't too bad, just enough to tickle Cora's senses. "I think I'll just need some bandages. Let's just hope there aren't any vamps around, right?" She laughed at her own joke. Cora tried to fake a chuckle, but it fooled no one.

"Are you okay?" Liz muttered, rolling her jeans back down. The cut had already stopped bleeding. "What's up with you…?"

Cora turned her back on her friend and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Hey…" Liz whispered as she walked forward and placed a hand on Cora's shoulder. Cora took a deep breath and turned around.

"Come on, let's go back. You need a bandage." The two exchanged smiles.

The vampire had different plans. It was one they'd never seen before—random, you might say. He weakly fell out of the trees above and immediately went for Liz, pulling her away from Cora and plunging his fangs violently into her neck.

Liz wiggled loose by the time Cora's gun had cleared her belt. Liz spun around and connected her fist with the enemy's chest. The vampire's breath was pushed out of his lungs, and he staggered back. Liz swayed and leaned against a tree while Cora took her shot. The vampire turned to ashes in seconds.

Cora's eyes glazed over as the scent of blood flooded the air. Liz held a hand to her neck, but the blood was flowing steadily. Cora didn't want to think about how deep he had bitten. She didn't want to think about how hurt she could be.

But she had to. She was the only one there to help her friend.

Liz fell down to her knees. She felt tired. Her hazy eyes met Cora's. Cora took a step forward. Then another. She kneeled in front of her nearly unconscious friend and held a hand to her neck. She _had_ to stop the bleeding. But she didn't know if she could.

"Cora…" Liz muttered, her eyes wide. She tried to get away from Cora, but she only landed on the ground. She was too weak to get far. "Your _eyes._ Oh god, no, Cora. No…"

Liz's eyes slipped shut, but she was still breathing. Cora almost crawled forward, but she saw Liz had stopped bleeding. The blood was still everywhere. All over Liz and her clothes, and on Cora's hands.

"Cora? Liz?" Sean called before appearing. Cora couldn't look up. Her eyes were glued on the blood. "Oh god…" Sean inhaled sharply when got a whiff of the blood, easily blocked it out as he lifted Liz into his arms. He looked down at Cora, who held a bloody finger to her lips.

"Don't do that to yourself, Cora." Sean shifted Liz's weight to one arm, and gently moved Cora's hand from her mouth with the other.

"She's anemic, Sean."

"I'll be right back." He said, racing off toward home.

Cora closed her eyes and nodded. But by the time he came back to get her, she was gone.

**/\000000o000000000000000000/**

When Cora finally returned to the house, Mr. White and Sean were wrestling Liz back to the couch. She flinched and fell back when Cora walked through the back door. Her clothes were stained with dried blood, but she had washed the blood off her hands the first chance she got. Liz stared at her.

"You-_Vampire." _She practically spat. Cora's eyes fell. Liz fumbled to her feet, and this time nobody stopped her as she made her escape.

Mr. White and Sean both looked at Cora. Her eyes were blank.

"Are you okay, Cora?" Her uncle took a step forward to comfort her, but she just shook her head, as if to erase what had just happened.

"Yeah." She headed for the stairs. "Fine."

**//**

"Can I come in?" Sean called, but didn't wait for an answer.

"No-" Cora saw the door opening and fumbled to get the rest of her pajamas on. She turned her back to the door, where Sean stood. He averted his eyes and quickly closed the door, but only after he had seen that she was only half dressed.

Cora pulled her top on quickly and opened the door again.

"Sean-"

"I'm sorry Cora-" She stared at her toes.

"…Did you see?" She asked. His eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously.

"No- I"

"I meant the scars, you saw them, right?" Sean stopped and looked her in the eye.

"I thought you had recovered." Sean asked, his brows meeting in confusion.  
"I thought the doctors..."

Cora opened the door, signaling he could come in. "Not yet. They said I would, eventually, but scars don't heal."

Sean took a seat on her bed, crossing his ankles and putting his hands behind his head, mockingly comfortable. Cora sat on the foot of her bed. She smiled when he poked her with his toes.

"It's gonna be okay, you know." Sean muttered. The smile evaporated from her face. "Liz will realize that you're still the same Cora, and-"

"But I'm not the same, Sean. I'm a different person." Cora shook her head. "You didn't know me before, so stop acting like you did. Stop acting like you know everything about me. Because you don't."

"Everything will be okay with Liz. I can tell." Sean sat up and crossed his legs Indian style.

"Yeah, sure." Cora rolled her eyes, but stopped halfway when Sean brushed her hair away from her scarred eye. She immediately leapt from her bed and took a few unsteady steps, her head spinning.

"I'm fine!" She snapped when Sean opened his mouth to speak. Lips forming a tight line, she walked away from the bed, toward her mirror. She leaned onto the dresser, staring at herself in the mirror. A hand ran through her hair, momentarily pulling her bangs back before they dropped back into place.

"Cora." His voice was a low whisper. Her eyes slowly fell closed.

"Get out, Sean."

"No, Cora-"

"I said get out!" She hissed.

"But-"

"_Get out!" _She screamed, turning just as Sean grabbed her by the wrists to throw her none-too-gently against a wall. She winced when the band-aid was torn from her neck and kept her eyes squeezed shut as she continued to feel his angry breath in her face.

Her fists shook as his grip on her wrists lessened, eventually letting go completely, though he had barely stepped back an inch. She slowly opened her eyes to find Sean's, full of morose.

Fearless eyes glued to his face as he brushed the fang marks with whispering fingers. But his eyes were on the scabby wounds that were low enough on her neck—closer to her shoulder—that her shirt usually covered them. He could see similar, fainter copies healing beside them.

"Who-"

Just then Cora stomped his toe with her heel, but as he keeled over, he grabbed her again and forced her down to the ground beside him. Her face burned as she looked up from the ground to his breathless eyes. He now had the advantage, by putting enough force on her arms to keep her glued down.

"Who." He repeated, more sternly.

She turned her head away slightly, refusing his question.

"Cora, who did this to you." He asked, exerting more pressure on her arms and leaning closer to her.

She glanced back at him but looked away again.

"My uncle's coming up the stairs…" she mumbled.

Sean distractedly looked up, and she took her chance to tear away from him and kick him away. He stared back disbelievingly.

"You really can't tell me." He said. She glared at him coldly before standing.

But she looked at him again, at his torn face, and apologetically answered him. "No. I really can't."


	23. Climax or what? :D

**Huh. Don't ask what happened to Zyron. Because I honestly have no idea. This was just one of those stories I was like, hey, that's not a bad idea! So I didn't think it all the way through. **

**Omg. (I think that's like the second time ive ever said that?) My computer sounds like it has a heartbeat. **

**And it's creeping me out.**

**\0/\0/0\0/**

Cora didn't see Liz anymore. Anywhere. She wasn't surprised.

An assignment came in for Cora that weekend. An assignment she'd never fulfill.

"Over here." Sean called as he changed direction. He knew the vampire was close, in the clearing up ahead, but what he didn't understand was why it wasn't running while it had the chance.

"Remember, she's a pureblood." Sean warned. "She's stronger than us." Cora nodded distractedly. "Get ready."

They broke through the brush and into the clearing. The vampire looked up and smiled.

Sean lurched for her, but Cora turned on him, easily flipping him over by one arm. Sean righted himself and looked up at them from where he lay on the ground. Cora stood by the enemy's side, staring blankly ahead.

The vampire pulled the gun right out of Cora's jeans and aimed it at its owner. Sean jumped to his feet, but the vampire smirked and rested her finger on the trigger. Her dark eyes glinted with the malevolence in her smile, and wavy blonde hair swirled around her shoulders.

"What the hell is going on here?" Sean looked with angry confusion to Cora, who continued to avoid his eyes. "If you hurt her-"

"You won't have to worry about that, not unless you don't get me what I want." The vampire took a step toward Cora, but kept her eyes on Sean. "Sean, you have something that I want."

"Who are you?" Sean asked. The vampire rolled her eyes.

"Doesn't matter-"

"How do you know that I have what you're looking for?" Sean glanced at Cora again. She stood straight and stiff.

"Because your dad doesn't have it." She was getting impatient. "I want the necklace, Sean. And if you don't bring it to me in the next fifteen minutes, Cora's going to be one unlucky girl."

"She already is." Sean said, face grave. "But I don't know what you're talking about. I don't _wear_ jewelry-"

"Doesn't mean you don't own it. Your fifteen minutes starts now, by the way. Go get it." The vampire looked at her watch, as if she would actually time him.

"I told you, I don't have it. I gave it to someone." He glanced at Cora, but this time she looked back with uncertain eyes. She got his hint.

"Well you better find that person pretty fast, or your girlfriend here is gonna be pixie dust." Sean stared at them, scrolling through options.

Cora had the necklace. Was she wearing it? He glanced at her. She didn't move. But she had obeyed this enemy before gunpoint…

"You drank her blood. You took her for yourself." Sean muttered. The vampire started tapping her foot.

"Duh? I wasn't sure if it would work or not, since she's technically already a vamp, but she's obeying me, so it works for me." She shrugged. "You sure are taking your time. You're down to thirteen minutes, by the way. You better get going."

If he jumped for the gun, Cora was dead. Waiting for time to be up was out of the option... He could tell her to run, but he didn't think she could disobey her new "master..."

"You set the house on fire." Sean though aloud. "Why'd you do that? You could have lost the necklace."

"I realize that, _thank you._" She said, looking offended. "I didn't know you had it then, I figured it would scare your dad into coughing it up, but then he told me you had it. So I was like, 'Crap!' but when I tried to put it out, I only made it stronger. And you were supposed to be in the house when I started the fire. Not this one here." She jabbed a thumb at Cora.

A new scent wafted through the air. A hunter.

"Run Liz!" Sean called.

The enemy vampire swiveled around and pulled the trigger, practically before aiming. Liz shot out of bushes and began a fist fight, holding a hand to her side.

"I don't have my gun, Sean!" Liz called. He jumped up and towards her. Cora was forced to watch, until she received orders to take care of Sean. She had no control over herself as she used all her strength against him. She looked confused, but also sorry. He tried not to hurt her as he defended himself, but at times it was inevitable.

Their fight froze momentarily when Liz cried out. She'd been thrown against a tree harder than her human body could take, and she slumped to the ground with her arms crossed in front of her at awkward angles. Sean took Cora by surprise when he appeared behind her, holding her arms so she couldn't move. She involuntarily struggled against him.

"Sorry for this." Sean muttered as he grabbed the necklace around her neck and yanked. She flinched, but otherwise was fine. Sean clasped the necklace around his own neck and jumped for the enemy with renewed strength and speed before Cora could turn on him again. The vampire turned just in time for Sean to grab her by the neck. Her eyes widened.

"You have it." She gasped. She tried to claw his hands off her neck, but her efforts were useless, so she instead reached for the necklace. Sean tried to keep her hands off the necklace and hold her to the tree at the same time, but he had only leveled the playing field. He was forced to back away from her so she wouldn't get the necklace. The enemy vampire stayed where she stood, contemplating her next move. With an evil gleam in her eyes, she reached down for the gun at her feet. Sean tensed.

Her eyes scanned the clearing, choosing her target. But as she raised the gun, Sean stopped her.

"Wait-" He held up his hands and unclasped the chain. "Take it and go." He tossed her the necklace, which she easily caught, but she smirked.

"Oh Sean, don't you know? It's never going to be that easy." She began to aim the gun once more at Cora, but before her finger could touch the trigger, Sean jolted forward and swiped it from her fingers. Shocked at his speed, she stepped back, bumping into a tree. The gun now resting on her neck.

"_Leave._" Sean warned. The vampire disappeared from sight before he could blink.

Cora took hesitant steps to Liz. The bullet had gone straight through her hip, a near miss. But now she was struggling with the pain as her arms twitched around, trying to hold onto something, but dirt and grass the only thing around.

"Liz…?" Cora began. There wasn't nearly as much blood as when Liz was attacked by the other vampire weeks ago, but it still took effort for Cora to keep her hands pressed to the wounds.

"Are you two okay?" Sean kneeled at their side. Liz winced, but nodded. Cora returned to avoiding his eyes.

"I'll be fine- uh!" Liz winced again. Sean picked her up and away from Cora, careful not to cause Liz anymore pain. Liz was uncomfortable, but embraced the throbbing.

"Come on, we need to get you to a hospital."

Cora followed them, but stopped at the automatic doors. Sean turned, but his face showed understanding.

"I'll see you back at the house." He smiled grimly and nodded.

**//**

**How's that for a climax? :D**

**Terrible, to me, since we're reading John Steinbeck in English I. :( And annotating. You wanna hear me growl? Tell me to go annotate my book. Seriously. I growled at my mom one time because she, for once, had to tell me to do my homework.**

**P.S., Can somebody teach me how to make one of those page breaks/scene break/ solid blue lines for a story? I see other people who have figured out how, But I dunno how :/**


	24. It's not over yet Oo

"What did you tell the paramedics?" Mr. White asked the second Sean walked in the door. He was obviously worried about what Sean would come up with.

"I told them a stray bullet came out of nowhere when we were walking in the woods."

"They believed that?" Mr. White asked, surprised.

"Why wouldn't they? At least this way they don't need any proof." Sean shrugged and headed down the hall to Cora's room. He knocked softly on the door before cracking it open.

Cora barely glanced at him from her bed, where she lay with her feet where her head should be. Guilt gnawed at her insides for turning against him, even if she couldn't have fought it.

"Hey…" He whispered, just like he always did, almost ceremoniously.

"Don't 'hey' me." She muttered. "Maybe my own life is pretty pathetic, but look at what I've done to yours. If you'd never met me, you'd still be living in your father's house, with your father's money. I've taken your blood from you, and lied to you-"

"If _you_ had never met _me,_ your house wouldn't have been burned down. You wouldn't have lost the little you had left from before losing your parents." Sean knelt next to her bed.

"You wouldn't have had to deal with all of my troubles-"

"I wouldn't have fallen in love." Cora looked at him. A shy, yet sincere smile appeared on his face. He didn't move, let alone add anything. It was her turn to talk.

She blinked a few times, then looked back at the ceiling.

"What if I told you I loved you, too?" She rolled away from him and sat up. He got off his knees and sat on her bed. They both knew how wrong it would feel to just live in the same house knowing they loved each other.

Talk about awkward.

"I was gonna tell you today, before the hunt went wrong: I've gotten in touch with my mother's sister." Sean said. "She was in town the other day, she… She has extra space at her new apartment downtown, and has offered me a place to stay." Cora blinked.

"You're… leaving?"

"Yeah, I guess. I'll still be in town, just not… in your house." Cora fidgeted with the edge of her sheets.

"It'll be different without you around the house." Cora said. Sean nodded in agreement. "Well…" she trailed off.

"Goodnight." Sean offered his smile, then stood to leave. He was at the door when Cora called after him.

"Wait-" with impossible speed, she appeared at the door, closing it as it cracked open. Sean had turned just in time for Cora to crash into him.

"Whoa, that was fast." Cora looked up Sean, question in her eyes. "I've never seen you move that fast…" He trailed off and smiled down at her. In effort to stop herself, Cora had ended up pressing her hands against Sean's chest. Their faces were millimeters apart.

"I'm waiting." Sean muttered. Much to his disappointment, Cora stepped back and looked at the floor. Maybe she would always keep her heart closed to him. Maybe it was time to give up. **(agh that was so hard to understand. She wasn't used to moving so fast, so she had ended up running into him… blegh forget me, keep reading .)**

"Thank you…" She muttered. "For everything." Her eyes met his, and she allowed him to wrap his arms around her in a hug. She inhaled deeply, but didn't allow the thump of his heart to enter her head. "But she's still alive."

Cora felt Sean nod. "But she's not going to bother us anymore. She has what she wants." He stepped back. "Goodnight, Cora. We can check on Liz in the morning." The door closed gently behind him.

**//**

"You could have told me."

Cora flinched at the words, thankful when Sean spoke up from where he stood next to the hospital bed. Cora had been too nervous to sit so close to her friend.

"What would have been different?" Liz narrowed her gaze at him. "She would still be the same person. Still a vampire." Her gaze moved to the ceiling.

"I don't know… I think I knew all along what had really happened to her." Liz muttered. When she saw Cora for the first time after those years apart and how she had changed, there was honestly no other explanation, especially with her freak outs those times in the woods.

"You see why I couldn't bring myself to tell you." Cora spoke up, but didn't add anything else.

"Yeah…" Liz admitted. "But, it's still you." Cora froze. Sean smirked. Liz smiled. "You're still Cora."

**//**

**Wow, no author's note much? Haha. :P**


	25. Original Ending

**Hello… I now wear my helmet and protective padding to protect myself against you readers who shall beat me now for taking a little vacation to high school… But seriously, sorry its been so long. It was a terrible vacation involving many disputes with nasty biology teachers and annotation of horror books (justified horror though-Holocaust)**

**This was originally the final chapter… But… It could have been the end, but… urg. Just read it. If you want. (Before you beat me o.o)**

**//**

"I guess I'll see you around school?" Sean set his bag in the car and turning back to Cora. It was moving day for him. His aunt was ready for him to move in. Mr. White had just gone back inside to search for his keys- insisting on driving him to his aunt's house.

"Yeah." Cora muttered, her face drawn. She would miss him, in her own way.

"I'll still be around." He stepped closer to her and wrapped one arm around her waist while he used his other hand to brush his fingers against her cheek. She averted her eyes. "Don't miss me too much." He whispered before brushing his lips against hers.

He almost stepped back before Cora put one hand on his chest and kissed him back. She closed her eyes and stood on her toes as Sean's lips curved to a smile against hers.

They parted when they heard Mr. White coming.

"Thanks." Sean whispered in a voice so low Cora wouldn't have heard it if she'd been human. She smiled, but kept her lips shut.

"See you in the morning? At school?" He smiled at her through the car window.

"See you…" She watched as he was driven away. She'd see him again, but next time would definitely be different.

**//**

**So, it was going to end here. You'll see.**


	26. Epilogue

Sean looked up from unpacking his small duffel bag when he heard the window slide open and a familiar silver-haired girl slip inside. It hadn't been four hours since he had first arrived at his aunt's apartment.

"Cora? What're you doing here?"

"My uncle's dead." She said curtly, her lips tight. "It was her. It was _that vampire_."

Sean stared in disbelief. Of all the people that could have been killed by a vampire, ironically, he would have never imagined Headmaster White being among those people. Cora stood stiffly by the window, but no tears betrayed her sorrow. He had been her last living relative. She had nowhere to go.

"Sean… I've come to say goodbye."

"Cora," he began with a shake of his head. "That's just silly… Where is there to go?"

"Wherever I went last time. I'll be fine, I just- I wanted to say bye." She forced a smile and added, "I thought you deserved this much."

Sean wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her moonlit hair.

"What about blood?" he asked, leaning down to her own neck, but just for a tender kiss. Her arms stayed at her side, her own lips portraying a thin line.

"I don't need it anymore." Sean opened his mouth to speak, but Cora continued. "That vampire… She let me drink from her. Several times. The substitute tablets are enough, now."

A heavy pause filled the air, but its duration was cut short when Sean laid a kiss, then another, on Cora's lips.

"So I guess I can't stop you?" He murmured against her lips, aware of the tears that had leaked down Cora's cheeks.

"You're not making this any easier for me." She choked, her eyes open and alert, ignoring the blur of the tears. She understood he didn't want her to leave. But she needed to cut herself off from all past life. She wanted to start over, though she knew it would not be a fresh start. She couldn't explain it, even to herself.

"Exactly." He spoke with a sense of finality, pressing his lips to hers once more, only more urgently this time, as if he still had a chance to change her mind.

"No-" She mumbled between breaths, tilting her head down and peeling Sean's hands from her neck to hold them in her own. "Goodbye, Sean."

And he was left. Standing there, slightly leaned over from stooping to her height.

Only minutes later, Cora was miles away, putting more distance between herself and Sean with every leap. It hadn't taken her long to realize that vampire would continue to torture her. Torture Liz. Sean.

She was stronger than Sean. Even more so now than before. He wouldn't stand a chance if he encountered her on his own. And soon enough, Sean would die. If she doesn't follow Cora, that vampire will kill him before she leaves this town.

As Cora ran, her feet pounding the dirt with every step, she allowed the tears to escape her eyes. It was dark now. Chilly without the slight warmth the sun offered during the day. With any luck, she was leading that god forsaken wife of Alexander away from Liz and Sean. With any more luck, she was right behind Cora, preparing to kill her. Cora was tired of running. She wanted it to be over.

Only for Sean's sake was she running. He insisted she not give up on herself, but it wasn't on his _favor_ she was running. She had to get that woman as far away from him as she could, if it was her last act.

Cora's ears picked up something moving behind her, but she was moving too fast for the scent to catch up with her.

_This is it._ She thought.

Now, it's all over.

**//**

**Do you think it's over? Could be… **


	27. fine

Cora watched from the high rooftop, as emotionless as the statues on either side of her, as the sun sank to meet the horizon. Pinks and oranges and purples lit up the clouds, but she thought nothing of the beautiful moment, though only a few months ago she had thought hers were numbered.

The rubber edges of her sneakers were centimeters away from the ledge that fell four stories down, but the slight breeze could only pull at her brown hair- which grew longer every day. Nowadays, Cora took the look of your average vagabond- which she was. No, she hadn't finished school, but that didn't matter much now.

"I've never seen a vampire go more than a month without blood tablets before losing her mind."

Cora swiveled around to face the boy, one shoe an inch closer to the edge than before, and the moment she saw him, with her best friend beside him, she knew how much she missed them. He looked the same, and everything about him was familiar, right down to the necklace chain that peeked out from his shirt. Even the smell… especially the smell. He stood upwind, so the wind led the scent of his blood directly into her face, but she pushed away thoughts of the taste, though it had been almost six months. And Liz… Her best friend Liz. She was alive and safe. But her eyes were glued on Sean as she spoke.

"Maybe it's because I'm not a vampire." She muttered, matter-of-factly. And in truth, she was only half vampire. Or two-thirds. Today she was more of a vampire than she was the last time she'd seen them... She would admit that her blood was still cold with ice, but no longer did needles run through her veins. And now, she could walk through a town and think of things more important than the blood that flowed in those around her. She almost felt… better. Better than before, anyway.

She shuffled her feet as he fished a silver tin out of his pocket. Her blood tablets. She had left them behind the day she ran away, half curious what would happen to her if she didn't take them. She half-hoped she _would_ lose her mind. Let the hunters find her, kill her. Fine by her.

Scars still stretched her face, no thinner than before, and one eye still only saw darkness.

Sean tossed the tin to her, carefully, so she could easily catch them, but they flew past her, down to the street below. And that was the last gust the wind needed. They could hear the clink of each tablet bursting out of the now-broken tin as Cora's foot reached past the ledge, two inches of her heel peeking over the side. Now, gravity had something more to grasp at. With wide eyes, Cora felt herself being pulled and blown off the edge, those statues that had been beside her now just out of her grasp.

And, faster than gravity, before Liz's scream could reach their ears, Sean was there, one arm easily slipping behind her waist, the other trusting their weight to the carved woman beside him. She felt her brown hair being pulled from her face, once again the only thing gravity could touch. She knew her scares were in view, but she didn't care. Not with Liz, not with Sean.

"What're you doing Cora…" He muttered, holding her suspended over the drop. One of her feet clung to the cement between Sean's secure feet, the other, while scrambling to sound itself, had landed on top of one of his shoes.

A choked sound escaped her lips. She hadn't eaten food, let alone drank a sufficient amount of blood in months. She wasn't sure how she was still alive. Especially when she hadn't stopped running all the while.

"I don't know anymore." She sobbed, though no tears formed in her eyes. He only waited another second or two before pulling her back onto the roof and immediately wrapping her up in his arms carefully. As he held her, he took note of every bone in her body, which seemed so fragile compared to his own strong build. Liz could only stand and watch. She knew they were close. She knew Cora needed him.

That nostalgic scent suddenly seemed overwhelming as she pulled herself closer to him. He only inched themselves further from the ledge when he felt her cold breath on his neck. Only lowered themselves to their knees when her fangs pierce him. He had known the first thing she would need when—if?—he found her would be blood. His blood. And now, Liz had to look away as her hatred for a vampire's needs contradicted with her feelings for her best friend.

And when Cora removed herself from Sean, he continued to hug her tightly, unwilling to let her go.

"Let's go home, Cora." He said into her hair. She smiled at the thought. A home. Her home.

It was over. That enemy was gone for good from this world. Liz was safe. Sean was safe.

As they stood, hand in hand, Liz walked up to meet them. She only hesitated for a moment before returning Cora's hug.

Cora was safe.

At last.

**//**

**So much for a happy ending :)**

**(for anyone who was a little confused, Alexander's wife was defeated, (I guess by Sean and Liz, I never really set that in stone) so Sean got the necklace back. Up there somewhere she mentions a familiar chain around his neck peeking out from his shirt (something or another), that's the necklace all the fuss has been about. You should get what I'm saying now. Hopefully.)**

**Thanks to ALL of my reviewers, supporters, subscribers, etc… I guess I kept you guessing with this story, huh? About whether or not I was still alive because I took forever to update? … Yeah. Sorry 'bout that. I know people who're worse about it.**

**Anyone else excited about where the actual manga is going? :D TIME FOR KANAME TO D I E! I wonder who shall kill him… Zero, definitely. Because Yuuki will always forgive him :) 3**

**My heart goes out to Japan, especially those who have lost their lives and their loved ones. More on my profile on this matter, go ahead, its public.**


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